[Commlist] PhD Scholarship - Sheffield Hallam University - Dept. Media, Arts and Communication

Cultural, Economic, and Community Impact of Independent Cinema 
Exhibition: A Case Study of the Showroom Cinema and its Audiences 
1994-present

About the Project

Applications are invited for a funded PhD scholarship, in collaboration 
with the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield with experience of and/or a 
background in film, media, or cultural studies, or a background in 
cinema and the exhibition sector.
This PhD is a case study of the independent Showroom Cinema in 
Sheffield, tracing its history and audiences from its opening in 1994 
through to the present day. The project’s aim is to investigate the 
cultural, economic, and community impact of the Showroom through 
archival research, interviews, and public outreach activities. The 
project will contribute to wider debates on policy making within the 
independent cinema exhibition sector in the UK and the urgent threats 
facing it.
The Showroom is an internationally significant cinema. It is one of the 
largest independent cinema in Europe and has been the host of the 
Sheffield DocFest since 1995. Its importance to the cultural economy of 
Sheffield, the UK, and Europe was reflected when it received the second 
largest grant from the BFI’s Culture Recovery Fund in 2021. Audiences 
have always been at the heart of the Showroom’s mission. Sheffield City 
Council initiated the project in the 1980s, forming the Sheffield Media 
and Exhibition Centre to lead the project. Following the closure of the 
independent Anvil Cinema, the Showroom was to be a cultural space for 
the benefit of all Sheffield citizens offering alternative, independent, 
and international cinema. But it was intended to be more than just a 
cinema: it would be a ‘media centre’, an industrial hub for the wider 
film industry in the region and would serve as the centrepiece of the 
newly designated Cultural Industries Quarter. The Showroom, and the 
wider UK independent cinema exhibition sector, faces ongoing challenges 
from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; increased competition from 
streaming services; and rivalry from a revived cinema circuit in 
Sheffield – Sheffield city centre alone now has four commercial cinemas. 
The BFI’s Screen Culture 2033 strategy places audiences and outreach at 
the heart of its funding strategies and so the Showroom seeks to develop 
local strategies to engage new audiences from Sheffield and South 
Yorkshire’s diverse communities. The Showroom, like other independent 
cinemas, has had to navigate the tension between serving its community 
through alternative programming and educational activities, with the 
need to ensure a commercially viable business. The project’s objectives 
are to:
1.	Examine the Showroom’s audiences and community outreach in Sheffield 
and South Yorkshire to ascertain its cultural and economic impact and 
how this has changed and how it could evolve.
2.	Trace the evolution of the Showroom’s business and programming 
strategies to understand its development against changing local and 
national cultural, economic, and political contexts.
3.	Investigate past, present and future opportunities and threats to the 
Showroom, and the wider independent cinema exhibition sector.
4.	Contextualize the study with reference to other independent cinemas 
in the UK and internationally.
Research environment and training
The successful candidate will be a member of the Centre for Culture, 
Media & Society and be encouraged to participate in the activities of 
the Film and Media group.  They will join a vibrant PhD programme with 
excellent student satisfaction scores. There are opportunities to 
participate in seminars, workshops, and conferences, including SHU's 
innovative interdisciplinary postgraduate research conferences on the 
topics of research impact and research method. We offer training in 
research methods via modules on the M. Res in Social Research and access 
to specialist media and film production facilities including recording 
studios, edit suites and VR studio and screening facilities at 'The 
Void' film lecture theatre. You can read more about the PhD community 
and some past and current PhD projects here. There will be opportunities 
to get involved in developing the community, academic, and industrial 
outreach of the Showroom through a collaboration to digitise a selection 
of its past cinema programmes, to arrange a public history event to 
celebrate the cinema’s 30th anniversary, and to co-organise a workshop 
on audiences and independent cinema exhibition.
The Showroom will support the project by providing a supervisor and 
external advisor from the cinema. It will also facilitate interview 
contacts and archival access, and support public history engagement 
events for the student to disseminate their research to a wider audience 
as part of the cinema’s 30th anniversary in 2025.
How to apply
Please see the prospectus entry for PhD Media & Communication for course 
information, entry requirements and the online application form. This 
project is not suitable for a Distance Learning arrangement.
For your research proposal we would like you to a) set the project 
enquiry into a context that includes examples of relevant research 
studies and policy b) discuss some of the practical research challenges 
and opportunities for this project c) outline how your skills and 
experience have prepared you to embark on this project. For further 
guidance see Culture & Creativity Research Institute PhD application 
guidance
Sheffield Hallam welcomes applications from all candidates irrespective 
of age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, gender, gender identity, 
sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or belief, or marital or civil 
partnership status. We strongly recommend you contact Dr James Fenwick 
((j.fenwick /at/ shu.ac.uk)) to discuss your application. Other supervisors 
include Dr Emmie McFadden (SHU), Dr Rinella Cere (SHU); Ian Wild 
(Showroom Cinema Chief Executive).
Start date for studentship: 1st October 2023
Interviews are currently scheduled for: week beginning the 26th June 2023
Closing date for applications: noon 26th May 2023
________________________________________
Funding Notes
The scholarship is available for 3.5 years (full-time) or 6 years 
(part-time) and includes:
• Tuition fees at Home rate
• A maintenance bursary at the standard Sheffield Hallam PhD stipend 
rate. This is aligned with the net Real Living Wage; the current rate 
for full time study in academic year 2022/23 is £18,178 per annum. 
Part-time is paid at 50%
• Up to £1500 total project costs
• The scholarship is open to Home and International candidates but 
please note that International applicants will need to have funds in 
place to pay the difference between Home and International tuition fees

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