Dr Mel Gibson

Associate Professor

School: Communities and Education

Her interest in these areas led to research about audiences, and also into work on memory and how we build our childhood reading into our autobiographies.

She is also a National Teaching Fellow. This means that Mel is recognised nationally as an expert in Teaching and Learning at university, particularly in relation to large-group work, having developed her skills with the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Assessment for Learning at Northumbria where she worked with Professor Kay Sambell.

Mel is probably best known, however, as one of the small group of academics who established Comics Studies in Britain. Her work on comics and memory is considered internationally significant. She has, additionally, been involved in initiating or supporting the development of a number of initiatives around comics, including the Comics Laureate Award, awarded bi-annually, which involves a comic creator supporting literacy development at national level and Comics Forum, one of the main British academic conferences on comics. She is also involved in comic festivals and other events, both talking about her research and running training on understanding visual literacies and reading for pleasure.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

I'm interested in literacy and popular culture. I have published research around comics and graphic novels for both children and adults. Most recently I've been looking at the intersections of comics, young people, feminisms and activism.

I have also researched audiences' responses to the comic medium, often using 'object elicitation' to encourage discussion about memories of comics.

I'm also interested in professional perceptions of popular culture.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Rehearsing Legitimacy: Simulation-Based Pedagogies, Imposter Experiences and Academic Wellbeing in Early-Career Academics, Hotonu, I., Mulholland, K., Cole, S., Gibson, M., Nichol, D., Counihan, C. 26 Jun 2026, In: Education Sciences
Girlhood and Transmedia Practice in The Tea Dragon Society, Gibson, M. 1 Dec 2024, In: Girlhood Studies
‘My friend really loves history … can she look at that really old Jackie?’: Contemporary Girls Encountering Historical Periodicals for Girls, Gibson, M. 31 Dec 2024, The Edinburgh History of Children's Periodicals, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press
Of Saints and Scientists: Biographies of famous women in the periodical Girl, Gibson, M. 15 Apr 2024, In: Journal of Comics and Culture
The Education and Exclusion of Heathcliff: a lesson on ‘looked after’ and ‘previously looked after’ children in schools from nineteenth century literature, Hoult, E., Gibson, M. 19 Oct 2024, In: Pedagogy, Culture and Society
Using Simulation as an innovative pedagogy to reduce Impostor Phenomenon amongst early career academics, Cole, S., Cole, M., Counihan, C., Gibson, M., Mulholland, K., Nichol, D. 2 Dec 2024, International Federation of National Teaching Fellows (IFNTF) Conference and Symposium
‘It’s the girl!’: Comics, Professional Identity, Affection, Nostalgia and Embarrassment, Gibson, M. 20 Feb 2023, Sugar, Spice, and the Not So Nice, Leuven, Leuven University Press
Librarians, Agency, Young People and Comics: Graphic Account and the development of graphic novel collections in libraries in Britain in the 1990s, Gibson, M. 2023, Comics and Agency, Berlin, De Gruyter
Readers and Fans: Lived Comics Cultures, Gibson, M. 31 Jul 2023, The Cambridge Companion to Comics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
‘...sure to delight every ballet fan.’: Consuming ballet culture through girls' periodical Girl, 1952-60, Gibson, M. 2023, In: Film, Fashion & Consumption

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Oral presentation: Using Simulation-Based Approaches to Address Imposter Phenomenon in Early Career Academics 2026

PGR Supervision

Rosie Steele ‘We’ve been through a decent amount of it, they’re a bit late to the party’. Relationships and Sex Education, girls’ media cultures and utilising the past in the present. Start Date: 07/03/2023 End Date: 28/02/2025
Betul Gaye Dinc The Seven Stories’ Story: Multimodal Research Mapping Topographies of British Children’s Literature Start Date: 01/10/2023

Qualifications