I boil it all down to things like trends, audio, gender, and time-based content. Each chapter is a look at how these elements come into play and what works and does not.

There is also a chapter on metrics and a final TL;DR that brings it all together and gives some actionable points for publishers who want to make use of pop culture in their social media marketing.

I’ve never written so much about Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, Very Demure-very mindful, or the Gilmore Girls in one go.

And if that doesn’t sell it to you, then I also got to call each chapter by its corresponding meme, trend, or song which brought me much joy.

Pop Culture Marketing in the Publishing Industry is out in April 2026. Pre order here.

Dr Miriam Johnson is a Senior Lecturer with OICPJ at Oxford Brookes University, and is a researcher and author of five books focused on the intersection between publishing, social media, brands, and marketing.

Dr Johnson is also the Co-Editor of new journal, Immersive Technologies, published by Taylor & Francis.

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About the Fellowship

Starting in 2026, the David McClure Public Interest Journalism Fellowship will support one nonfiction writer per year to work on a timely and independent piece of long-form journalism that holds significant relevance within today’s society.

It will focus on public interest journalism which, without this funding, might never be published.

The Fellowship has been created with support from the David McClure Trust Fund, and covers a five-year term up to 2030.

About David McClure

David McClure was a well-respected news producer, author and journalist whose investigation into institutional privilege resulted in two nonfiction books, and a series of impactful pieces of public interest journalism. He died from cancer in June 2022.

McClure spent a decade on a forensic investigation to uncover the lavish privilege around the British Royal family’s private estates and investments, all of which had been protected from public scrutiny for centuries. Dubbed as ‘bombshell revelations’ by the press, Royal Legacy: How the royal family have made, spent and passed on their wealth (2014), and The Queen’s True Worth: Unravelling the public & private finances of Queen Elizabeth II (2020), were both serialised in the UK press and covered extensively by the global media.

Funding public interest journalism

The David McClure Public Interest Journalism Fellowship exists to recognise the time-consuming and costly endeavour of rigorously researching and surfacing public interest journalism.

Throughout the decade in which McClure worked on his royal investigations, funding for investigative journalism was in decline and under threat, which the 2019 Cairncross Review also recognised. Today, funding a media system that operates in the interests of an increasingly divided public to hold power to account still remains a key challenge, and one which this award seeks to support.

Fellowship criteria

The selection of the Fellow comes with few conditions. The ultimate decision will be based on how deserving the writer’s proposed investigation is to be in the public domain.

Fellowship selection panel

The Fellow will be selected by an awarding panel made up of OICPJ and selected members of its two Industry Advisory Boards. Members of the OICPJ Industry Advisory boards include publishers, literary agents, journalists and authors, and other members of the industry. Please take a look at the Publishing Advisory Board and the Journalism Advisory Board membership for more details.

How to apply

Applicants will apply via this form. Shortlisted candidates will be required to attend an interview online.

Application requirements

The applicant must submit an 1500-word pitch including a synopsis of their investigation and its aims, objectives, key research undertaken and progress to date, what support they need to complete it, and how the funds will be utilised.

Application deadline

Starting in 2026, there will be funding for one Fellow per year for the next five years. Each year, the Fellow will start in September. The annual application deadline is 31 May.

Questions?

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions here for more details. For further queries, press information or to make a donation to the Fellowship fund, please contact OICP Programme Director, Alexandra Shakespeare on ashakespeare@brookes.ac.uk

A major new output from Dr Antonia Mackay’s current research, which examines rapid digitisation of maternal healthcare during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, will be showcased in March 2026.

Motherhood in Lockdown: A VR Immersive Experience will be installed in the VR Cave on the Headington Hill Campus at Oxford Brookes University, with individual headsets available for public exploration over a two-week period.

The installation invites audiences to step inside the emotional and physical isolation created by the pandemic’s shift to digital healthcare, incorporating poetic interventions by Kate Thirlwall to transform research data into an affective, immersive environment.

This exhibition forms part of an emerging Impact Case Study and extends Antonia’s broader research portfolio on surveillance, digital culture and feminist corporeality. Related recent work includes the 2025 podcast Digitising Motherhood: How the Pandemic Reshaped Maternal Healthcare, alongside forthcoming publications with Palgrave Macmillan and Vernon Press on maternal surveillance, digital culture and American literature.

Supported by Research Excellence Awards, Impact Development funding and external grants from the Sheila Kitzinger Programme (Green Templeton College, Oxford), Dr Mackay’s interdisciplinary projects bring together healthcare practitioners, digital media specialists, writers and theatre partners.

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