Professor Julia Gillen
Professor of Literacy StudiesProfile
I am Professor of Literacy Studies in Linguistics and English Language, in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at 比比资源, UK and Co-Director of the . Throughout March 2027 I will be the Emeritus Colleague Patricia Merivale Scholar in Residence at .
I am currently developing new work on a posthuman approach to the study of writing systems.
Since 2002 I have been involved with the umbrella programme, initially created by C.A. Cameron and myself. It has given rise to numerous projects around the globe making use of our methodology.
I am Director of the Edwardian Postcard Project and have written or co-written a substantial number of journal papers and book chapters on the topic as well as a monograph: .
My most recent ESRC funded research project is 0-3-year-old children's language and literacy learning at home in a digital age aka (ES/W001020/1) June 2022-December 2024. See my publications for our growing set of journal papers and follow these links for our and our
I from the ESRC funded project , (ES/W000571/1) January 2022 - March 2024.
I am an Area Chair (International Research on Learning and Teaching) with the Literacy Research Association and chair the committee. I am actively involved with many other professional associations including the Royal Historical Society, the Social History Society and the American Education Research Association.
Research Overview
I am exploring and expanding the boundaries of literacy studies, working with contemporary and historical topics. I’m also very interested in , the title of a forthcoming book co-edited with Uta Papen. Please see my profile and publications list for more details of my research interests.
External Roles
I review proposals for several different international funding councils and occasionally chair panels. The following are a sample of my current and past roles.
Co-editor, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 2007-present.
2025-2028 Area Chair of Panel 12 International Research and Scholarship, Literacy Research Association.
2025-2028 Chair of Brian Street Memorial Award, Literacy Research Association.
Member, AHRC Peer Review College, June 2014 - December 2021.
Chair of the Awards Committee of the Writing and Literacies Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association 2019 & 2020.
I was co-chair Working Group 1 (Digital Literacy in Homes and Communities) of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Programme The Digital Literacy and Multimodal Practices of Young Children (DigiLitEY) June 2017 - April 2019 and led the "Day in the Digital Lives of Children 0-3" research strand of WG1.
Selected Publications
Burnett, C., Adams, G., Gillen, J., Thompson, T.L., Lindroos Cermakova, A., Shannon, D.B., Shetty, P. 15/11/2024 London : Routledge. 208 p. ISBN: 9781032544106.
Book
Gillen, J. 13/07/2023 London : Routledge. 158 p. ISBN: 9781032198873. Electronic ISBN: 9781003261322.
Book
Burnett, C., Gillen, J., Guest, I., Maxwell, B., Thompson, T.L. 3/10/2022 In: Literacy. 56, 4, p. 386-399. 14 p.
Journal article
Sandberg, H., Gillen, J. 30/09/2021 In: Communication, The European Journal of Communication Research. 46, 3, p. 332-351. 20 p.
Journal article
Goodall, J., Flewitt, R., El Gemayel, S., Arnott, L., Dalziell, A., Gillen, J., Savadova, S., Timmins, S., Liu, M., Winter, K. 26/11/2025 In: Educational Review.
Journal article
Lindroos Cermakova, A., Adams, G., Burnett, C., Gillen, J., Thompson, T.L., Shannon, D.B., Shetty, P., Vackova, P. 11/03/2024 Sheffield : Sheffield Hallam University. 106 p.
Other report
Winter, K., Flewitt, R., El Gemayel, S., Bunting, L., Arnott, L., Connolly, P., Dalziell, A., Gillen, J., Goodall, J., Lui, M., McLaughlin, K., Savadova, S., Timmins, S. 12/08/2025 In: Children and Society. 39, 5, p. 995-1011. 17 p.
Journal article
All Publications
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18/06/2025 → …
Research
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06/06/2022 → 05/12/2024
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01/04/2022 → 31/03/2027
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04/01/2022 → 31/03/2024
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01/09/2019 → 31/12/2022
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01/01/2019 → 03/03/2019
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01/07/2017 → 31/12/2020
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14/02/2016 → 14/05/2016
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01/06/2015 → 31/07/2016
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03/11/2014 → 30/12/2016
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16/01/2013 → 31/01/2014
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17/10/2011 → 19/10/2012
Consultancy
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30/07/2011 → 31/10/2013
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01/01/2011 → 30/12/2014
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01/09/2009 → …
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01/02/2007 → 31/01/2008
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01/02/2007 → 31/12/2009
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01/01/2002 → 30/12/2016
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01/01/1900 → …
Research
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Festival/Exhibition/Concert
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Membership of committee
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Membership of committee
Examination
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Invited talk
Visiting an external academic institution
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Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Membership of committee
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Visiting an external academic institution
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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Member of Advisory Panel
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Visiting an external academic institution
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Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Membership of committee
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Membership of committee
Member of Advisory Panel
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Invited talk
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Membership of committee
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Invited talk
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Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
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Editorial activity
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Membership of committee
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Prize (including medals and awards)
- CeMoRe - Centre for Mobilities Research
- Lancaster Literacy Research Centre