The Popular Music Research Unit (PMRU) at Oxford Brookes supports research in popular music at various levels:
Internationally, usually through publication (both as authors and editors)
Nationally, usually through conferences
Regionally, by offering support for events or media.
PMRU was established in 2009 as a focus of popular music research in the department, and has particular expertise in words in songs, record production in the 1960s, popular music history, music publishing and music journalism.
The Music department performed very well in the REF 2014 exercise, with 98% of our research being internationally recognised and 57% being rated world leading or internationally excellent.
Members of PMRU are often also members of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and attend both national and international conferences.
We welcome applications from postgraduate students, particularly in the fields of popular musicology, record production analysis, popular music analysis and music journalism.