I have provided expert commentary on a range of topics in the media in the UK, USA & Europe including press, radio & television, as well as undertaking public engagement work.
I am available for consulting projects, speaking engagements, and as an expert in the areas of media audience & fandom, celebrity cultures, television studies, media tourism, transmedia culture, & participatory cultures.
Please contact me for further information.
Consultancy & Press
Consultancy:
Member of Canvas8 Access Expert Network (2022-present).
Provided consultancy for IDEO North America: Media, Entertainment and Technology project (2024).
Provided consultancy for Twitter on a project on Fandom and Web 3.0 (2022).
Provided consultancy for Reel Reality on development of app related to fan tourism in Cardiff (2020).
I was also interviewed in 2017 about my research into Post-Object Fandom for a short film screened at the Arts Council England and British Council’s 2017 Annual No Boundaries Conference.
I have guested on the following podcasts:
- In Defence of Fandom, MP3, 20 June 2024 and 9 April 2024.
- In Media Res: Media Commons, MP3, 15 January 2023.
- Fast Company: Creative Control. ‘The Thin Line Between Borrowing and Stealing in Fandom’’. MP3, 1 June 2023.
- Fast Company: Creative Control. ‘The Dark Side of Fandom.’ MP3, 25 May 2023.
- Fast Company: Creative Control. ‘A Deep Dive into the World of Fandom’. MP3, 18 May 2023. Apple Podcasts Spotify
- How Do You Like It So Far? Henry Jenkins Podcast. MP3, 1 March 2022.
- Sci Fi Gangstas, MP3, 09 October 2021.
- And Now Podcast, MP3, 6 March 2021.
- It’s a Thing! MP3, 1.2. 30 Sep 2019.
I have been interviewed about my research specialisms by media outlets including:
Stokel-Walker, Chris, ‘The Disney-OpenAI tie-up has huge implications for intellectual property’, Fast Company, 11 December 2025.
Stokel-Walker, Chris, ‘Disney and OpenAI have made a surprise deal – what happens next?’, New Scientist, 11 December 2025.
Li, Shirley, ‘It’s Not Just Netflix—It’s Your Entire Life’, The Atlantic, 30 September 2025.
Hogan, Mike, ‘As Twin Peaks Turns 35, the Mystery Is Still the Message for a World of Fans’, Vanity Fair, April 2025. [Provided background information]
Stokel-Walker, Chris, ‘A long list of ride closures is making Disney World less fun’, Sherwood News, March 2025.
Stokel-Walker, Chris, ‘Ride on Time: The Best Rollercoasters in Europe are Just a Short Flight Away’, Easyjet Traveller, August 2024.
‘Tenniscore is on the rise, thanks to ‘Challengers.’ Why fans are leaning in to ‘method dressing’ at the movies’, Yahoo Entertainment, 9 May 2024.
Slater, Bailey. ‘Can Gypsy-Rose Blanchard ever be “mother”? On Stan Twitter, True Crime’s latest it girl is a rootable problematic fave if there ever was one. Has fan culture gone too far?’, Gay Times, 9 January 2024.
Zemler, Emily. Disney Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas: Beyond HalloweenTown. Disney Books. 2023.
Zemler, Emily. Disney Princess: Beyond The Tiara. Epic Ink Books. 2022.
Wratten, Marcus. ‘‘Bloody hell, what a ride’: How Neighbours superfans are coping with the end as the last episode looms’. The iNews (UK) 28 June 2022.
Stokel-Walker, Chris. ‘Johnny Depp Has Become a Full-Circle Meme’. Wired (International) 11 June 2022.
The Times (UK, 2022) on social media, TikTok, and the war in Ukraine.
SFGate (International, 2021) on toxic Disney fandom.
The Guardian (UK, 2021) on fan collecting and Pinterest.
The Times 2 supplement (UK, 2021) Join the anti-social (media) set — Harry and Meghan have | Times2 | The Times
BBC World News’ Witness History radio show, on the fandom of Harry Potter (2020). BBC World Service – Witness History, The Man Who Published Harry Potter
BBC Radio Wales (UK, 2019)
BBC Radio Coventry (UK, 2019)
Heart Radio (UK, 2018)
The Sunday Times (UK, 2017)
The Guardian (UK, 2016) The celebrities who reply to every letter | Celebrity | The Guardian
Verdens Gang (Norway, 2016). Print only.
BBC One Wales: The Wales Report (UK, 2016)
Journalist Greg Lansdowne for book Living a Fan’s Adventure Tale: A-Ha in the Eyes of the Beholders: Amazon.co.uk: Lansdowne, Greg: Books
Information (Denmark, 2014). Print only.
Los Angeles Times (US, 2012) ‘Twilight’s’ tent city: Hundreds of campers await L.A. premiere – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
The Western Mail (Wales, UK, 2012) What next for Saturday night TV after Merlin axe and X Factor ratings plunge? – Wales Online
The Sunday Times (UK, 2012). Print only
Conference Organisation
I have extensive experience in conference & event organisation and co-organised the 2018 conference of the Fan Studies Network, having acted as a conference team member for the annual event since 2013.
Other conference organisation experience:
- Conference Committee Member, Disney, Culture & Society Research Network Conference, Online, June 2025.
- Reviewed Conference Submissions for Themed Experience and Attractions Academic Symposium (TEAAS) (November 2024); Console-ing Passions, University of Central Florida/Online (June 2022); Celebrity Studies Annual Conference 2014.
- Academic Symposium Coordinator for the International Vampire Film and Arts Festival, held in Transylvania, Romania, in May 2016.
- Symposium Organiser of Investigating Torchwood: Text, Context, Audiences at the University of Glamorgan, in June 2010.
- Conference Coordinator for the Cyfrwng (Media Wales Journal) Annual Conference, held at BBC Cymru Wales in May 2009.
- Conference Team Member for the Cyfrwng: International Conference on Media and Culture in Small Nations held at the University of Glamorgan in June 2011.
Professional Service and Memberships
Co-Editor-in-Chief Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture (2022-2024).
Member of Editorial Board for book series Fandom Primers with Bloomsbury (2022-).
Member of the Steering Committee for the Fan & Audience Studies Special Interest Group for the Society of Cinema & Media Studies (2018-2020; 2022-2024).
Member of Editorial Board of International Journal of Disney Studies
Member of Editorial Board of Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies
Member of Editorial Board of Celebrity Studies
Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Fandom Studies
Member of Editorial Board of Transformative Works and Cultures
Former Book Reviews Assistant for the journal Critical Studies in Television
Member of Editorial Advisory Board of Intensities
Member of Board of Fan Studies Network
Member of SCMS – Society for Cinema and Media Studies Includes membership of Television Studies and Fan & Audience Studies Special Interest Groups.
Member of the Themed Entertainment Association
Member of British Association of Film, Television & Screen Studies
Member of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)
Former member of the management committee of Cyfrwng: Media Wales Journal (2008-2014).
Member of the Steering Group of the Centre for the Study of Media and Culture in Small Nations – University of South Wales
Member of the Centre for Gender Studies in Wales (University of South Wales) and the Music Media & Drama Research Unit (University of South Wales).
Dr Rebecca Williams 