Lee Edwards - Biography#

Professor Edwards (PhD Leeds Metropolitan University, 2007; MSc Auckland University Business School, 1995; BSc Linguistics and International Studies, University of Surrey 1991): Edwards' outstanding critical scholarship is internationally recognised for its focus on the operation of power in and through Public Relations within the occupational field and in wider society. Her interest is in the relationship between public relations, different forms of inequality, its contribution to democracy and its impact on social justice. Her research is informed by a wide range of theories - from Bourdieu and deliberative theory - to critical race theory and the sociology of professions. She aims to understand how public relations shape the world we inhabit and how we interpret our place within that world. Her theoretical contributions include new interpretations of public relations as an object of research, conceptualisations of public relations’ role in democratic arrangements, and public relations as both cultural industry and cultural intermediation. Her work has argued for a radical approach to improving diversity in public relations and understanding how PR serves democracy and social justice for young people and marginalised groups. She has led and participated in numerous projects on diversity in public relations, digital communication and social action, and the use of social media as a public relations tool by feminist activist groups and by young people.

Alongside her core focus on PR, she has developed associated areas of research expertise. Her funded research on copyright focused on how it is promoted, talked about and understood by creative industries, artists/creators, activists and users, and has delivered insights into how the process of making copyright policy could become more inclusive and democratic, leading to a more robust and widely accepted copyright regime. More recently she has developed this work on public participation in media policy to incorporate public service broadcasting policy, and in analyses of the contemporary challenges facing media literacy in theory and practice. In the latter case, she has led a range of research projects, ultimately arguing for a systemic, stakeholder-centred approach to media literacy policy to address fundamental challenges of technological change, malinformation and political polarisation.

Professor Edwards’ teaching is outstanding. She is recipient of many teaching excellence awards. She directed her Department’s MSc in Strategic Communication from its start, to become a highly successful programme and has also taken a leading role in developing Departmental Executive Education courses. She has examined numerous PhDs in the UK and Europe. She has a strong commitment to academic service; alongside her senior roles within her institutions, she has held editorial roles in two leading journals in the field, has sat on thesis and dissertation awards committees for the Euprera and ICA associations, and is a regular reviewer/external assessor, including for conferences, journals, for research excellence evaluations nationally and internationally, and for senior recruitment and promotion processes at institutions in the UK and internationally.

Beyond academia she is a firm believer in generating impact from her research, and has achieved substantial recognition among practitioners during her career so far. She publishes blogs that extend the reach of her research, is an active member of the Media Reform Coalition, advocating with policy makers for a fairer and more democratic media system in the UK, and regularly engages with communications and media industry individuals, organisations and associations to share her expertise in talks and advisory discussions. She was appointed by the Public Relations and Communications Association as Advisor to the UK Commission on Public Relations Education in 2022 - 2023 and was elected as a member of their UK PR and Communications Council in 2019. In 2024 she was appointed to the UK Broadcasting Regulator, Ofcom's, Making Sense of Media advisory board in recognition of her work on media literacy.