Dr Ashley Woodfall
- 01202 965869
- awoodfall at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
- http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6051-9267
- Associate Professor of Children's Media
- Weymouth House W211, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Biography
Ashley is an Associate Professor in Children’s Media, having previously been Programme Leader of BA (Hons) Television Production and Head of Department (and before that Head of Education and Professional Practice) for the Department of Media Production.
He holds an MA in Producing Film and Television, a PGCE in Educational Practice and a PhD in children’s media/TV practices and audiences, with a primary research focus on children’s media experiences and culture. His current research is looking into children’s understanding of Public Service Media (British Academy funded, PI).
His learning and teaching activity spans undergraduate and postgraduate TV, Film, Media and Photography – spanning professional production and theory. He is Deputy Head of the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP), Editor of the Media Education Research Journal (MERJ) and Co-Editor of the Children’s Media Yearbook. He is a member of the Children’s Media Foundation (precisely the Children’s Film Foundation) Executive Group and Co-convenor of the Children’s Media Foundation’s Academic Advisory Board... Ashley is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Higher Education Academy.
Ashley was a member of Andrew Bissell’s (Journalism) and Ross Adamson’s (Film Documentary) successful doctoral supervisory teams and is currently supervising Yunfei Li (Children’s Media/Games), Alan Fox (TV Studio), Dee Hughes (TV & Film Scriptwriting), Annie East (TV & Film Risk Management), Christian Cohen (Media Education) and Aneta Postek’s (TV & Film Virtual Production/Puppetry) doctoral research – and is keen to work with any future PhD researchers who may have an interest in children’s media/lived experience.
Ashley worked in the television industry for many years before joining the teaching and research community at Bournemouth University. He started his career in film/commercials, before moving into the camera department and then into directing and producing. His practice experience spans studio and location production, and includes producing and directing Factual, News, Continuity, Promos, Commercials, Entertainment and Comedy; often with an interactive slant, and mostly within Children's TV. As a Producer and Director, he regularly worked with the likes of Sasha Baron Cohen, Dave Berry and Simon Amstell. Whilst at Nickelodeon he devised, produced and directed innovative interactive music and TV game shows. For BBC Children's (where he was part of the Emmy award winning Interactive team) he created multi-platform content that spanned online, interactive and broadcast – as well as directed Newsround (the BBC’s long running TV news show for kids).
moreFavourites
- Woodfall, A. and Childs, G., 2025. 'Media for children, to be truly public service, should be about them, with them and to an extent by them': A Conversation with Greg Childs. JOURNAL OF BRITISH CINEMA AND TELEVISION, 22 (2), 282-294.
- The Children's Media Yearbook 2024. The Children's Media Foundation.
- Woodfall, A. and Berger, R., 2024. Dick And Dom’s ‘Bogies’: Goodbye The Irreverent? The Children's Media Yearbook 2024. The Children's Media Foundation.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2024. Dick and Dom in the Place/Space to Be: ‘Bogies’ as Situationist-Carnival (Forthcoming). In: Noel, B., ed. Radical Children’s Television. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Woodfall, A., 2024. Children’s Public Service Media: In Crisis? A Crisis of Childhood? In: MEDIA INDUSTRIES 2024 16-19 April 2024 King’s College London.
- Woodfall, A., 2023. Who Do You Want to Be? Participatory Creative Method in a Study into Children’s Media and Aspirations. In: Children & Youth Perspectives: Theory, Research and Practice in European Contexts 14-15 September 2023 Charles University, Prague.
- The Children’s Media Yearbook 2023. The Children's Media Foundation.
- The Children’s Media Yearbook 2022. The Children's Media Foundation.
- Woodfall, A., Aktuna, Z., Clarke, C., Page, R., Player, N. and Sturrock, J., 2022. Future Stories. Feria Urbanism.
- Greg, C., Anna, H., Helen, M., Jayne, K., Jeanette, S., John, K. and Ashley, W., 2021. Our Children's Future: Does Public Service Media Matter?. The Children’s Media Foundation. Available from: https://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PSMR-REPORT-UPDATED-1.6.22WEB.pdf.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2019. Children’s Culture. The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy. Wiley.
- Woodfall, A., Parry, B., Scott, F. and Cannon, M., 2019. Guest editorial: Young Children’s Engagements with Digital Media. Media Education Research Journal, 8 (2), 5-9.
- Ashley, W., Lily, L., Jackie, M., Colin, W., Becky, P., Andrew, B. and Peter, R., 2019. The Screen Time Debate: What do Children and Young People Think?. Children’s Media Foundation. Available from: https://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/archives/7275/the-screentime-debate.
- Herrero-Diz, P., Ramos-Serrano, M. and Woodfall, A., 2019. Youth prosumers and character strengths. The Routledge Handbook of Positive Communication: Contributions of an Emerging Community of Research on Communication for Happiness and Social Change. 278-285.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2017. What ‘children’ experience and ‘adults’ may overlook: phenomenological approaches to media practice, education and research. In: Lemish, D., Jordan, A. and Rideout, V., eds. Children, Adolescents, and Media: The Future of Research and Action. London & New York: Routledge.
- Woodfall, A., Van Raalte, C., Wallis, R. and Dent, T., 2016. Is Higher Education unfit for purpose in the preparation of young people work in media industries? In: Media Education Summit 4-5 November 2016 Rome.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2016. Remediated Pedagogies? The Secret Life of Six Year Olds. In: Readman, M., ed. Teaching and Learning on Screen: Mediated Pedagogies. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2016. What ‘Children’ Experience and ‘Adults’ May Overlook: Phenomenological Approaches to Media Practice, Education and Research. Journal of Children and Media, 10 (1), 98-106.
- Woodfall, 2015. The ‘Platform Agnostic’ Child? What Practice and Research Might be Missing. In: Comparing Children’s Media around the World: Policies, Texts and Audiences 4 September 2015 University of Westminster.
- Woodfall, A., 2015. Do We Only Find What We Go Looking For? (Dialogic Phenomenological Research Approaches with Children). In: Festival of Learning 16 July 2015 Bournemouth University.
- Woodfall, A., 2015. Is there such a thing as Children’s Television anyway? In: ‘The Story of Children's Television’ 6-7 July 2015 University of Warwick.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2015. ‘Media is a Plural’ – What Children Might Know and Research May Seem to Forget. In: International Conference on Communication and Mass Media 11-15 May 2015 Athens, Greece.
- Woodfall and Woodfall, A., 2015. Children's cross-platform media preferences: a sense of kindness and a want for learning? PhD Thesis. Bournemouth University, Faculty of Media and Communication.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2012. The Digital Utterance: A Crossmedia Approach to Media Education. In: Ibrus, I. and Scolari, C.A., eds. Crossmedia Innovations: Texts, Markets, Institutions. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2012. The Digital Utterance: a cross-media approach to media education. In: Ibrus, I. and Scolari, C.A., eds. Crossmedia Innovations: Texts, Markets, Institutions, Education.. Oxford: Peter Lang., 111-125.
- Woodfall, A., 2011. Born of Big Brother: celebrity, interactivity and the thinnest of screens. Celebrity Studies, 2 (2), 227-229.
Journal Articles
- Woodfall, A. and Childs, G., 2025. 'Media for children, to be truly public service, should be about them, with them and to an extent by them': A Conversation with Greg Childs. JOURNAL OF BRITISH CINEMA AND TELEVISION, 22 (2), 282-294.
- Woodfall, A., Parry, B., Scott, F. and Cannon, M., 2019. Guest editorial: Young Children’s Engagements with Digital Media. Media Education Research Journal, 8 (2), 5-9.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2016. What ‘Children’ Experience and ‘Adults’ May Overlook: Phenomenological Approaches to Media Practice, Education and Research. Journal of Children and Media, 10 (1), 98-106.
- Woodfall, A., 2011. Born of Big Brother: celebrity, interactivity and the thinnest of screens. Celebrity Studies, 2 (2), 227-229.
- Woodfall, A., 2011. Born of Big Brother: Celebrity, Interactivity and the Thinnest of Screens. Celebrity Studies, 2.
Books
- The Children's Media Yearbook 2024. The Children's Media Foundation.
- The Children’s Media Yearbook 2023. The Children's Media Foundation.
- The Children’s Media Yearbook 2022. The Children's Media Foundation.
- Woodfall, A., Aktuna, Z., Clarke, C., Page, R., Player, N. and Sturrock, J., 2022. Future Stories. Feria Urbanism.
Chapters
- Woodfall, A. and Berger, R., 2024. Dick And Dom’s ‘Bogies’: Goodbye The Irreverent? The Children's Media Yearbook 2024. The Children's Media Foundation.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2024. Dick and Dom in the Place/Space to Be: ‘Bogies’ as Situationist-Carnival (Forthcoming). In: Noel, B., ed. Radical Children’s Television. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Woodfall, A., 2023. Children’s Mental Health And Media: Tools For Talking About Feelings. In: Ashley, W. and Hannie, K., eds. Children’s Media Yearbook. https://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/yearbook-2023: Children’s Media Foundation, 77-78.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2019. Children’s Culture. The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy. Wiley.
- Herrero-Diz, P., Ramos-Serrano, M. and Woodfall, A., 2019. Youth prosumers and character strengths. The Routledge Handbook of Positive Communication: Contributions of an Emerging Community of Research on Communication for Happiness and Social Change. 278-285.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2017. What ‘children’ experience and ‘adults’ may overlook: phenomenological approaches to media practice, education and research. In: Lemish, D., Jordan, A. and Rideout, V., eds. Children, Adolescents, and Media: The Future of Research and Action. London & New York: Routledge.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2016. Remediated Pedagogies? The Secret Life of Six Year Olds. In: Readman, M., ed. Teaching and Learning on Screen: Mediated Pedagogies. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2012. The Digital Utterance: a cross-media approach to media education. In: Ibrus, I. and Scolari, C.A., eds. Crossmedia Innovations: Texts, Markets, Institutions, Education.. Oxford: Peter Lang., 111-125.
- Berger, R. and Woodfall, A., 2012. The Digital Utterance: A Crossmedia Approach to Media Education. In: Ibrus, I. and Scolari, C.A., eds. Crossmedia Innovations: Texts, Markets, Institutions. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Conferences
- Woodfall, A., 2024. Children’s Public Service Media: In Crisis? A Crisis of Childhood? In: MEDIA INDUSTRIES 2024 16-19 April 2024 King’s College London.
- Woodfall, A., Carter, C., Messenger Davies, M., Healy, Z. and Slavtcheva-Petkova, V., 2024. Children’s Public Service Media: Time for New Thinking? Roundtable. In: MEDIA INDUSTRIES 2024 16-19 April 2024 King’s College London.
- Woodfall, A., 2023. Who Do You Want to Be? Participatory Creative Method in a Study into Children’s Media and Aspirations. In: Children & Youth Perspectives: Theory, Research and Practice in European Contexts 14-15 September 2023 Charles University, Prague.
- Woodfall, A., Van Raalte, C., Wallis, R. and Dent, T., 2016. Is Higher Education unfit for purpose in the preparation of young people work in media industries? In: Media Education Summit 4-5 November 2016 Rome.
- Woodfall, 2015. The ‘Platform Agnostic’ Child? What Practice and Research Might be Missing. In: Comparing Children’s Media around the World: Policies, Texts and Audiences 4 September 2015 University of Westminster.
- Woodfall, A., 2015. Do We Only Find What We Go Looking For? (Dialogic Phenomenological Research Approaches with Children). In: Festival of Learning 16 July 2015 Bournemouth University.
- Woodfall, A., 2015. Is there such a thing as Children’s Television anyway? In: ‘The Story of Children's Television’ 6-7 July 2015 University of Warwick.
- Woodfall, A. and Zezulkova, M., 2015. ‘Media is a Plural’ – What Children Might Know and Research May Seem to Forget. In: International Conference on Communication and Mass Media 11-15 May 2015 Athens, Greece.
- Woodfall, 2012. It’s all Cross-platform to me - Children and their Media Worlds. In: MeCCSA PGN Conference 17-20 September 2012 Loughborough University.
- Woodfall, A., 2012. The Dialogic Act and Learner’s Voice: A Dialogue. In: Fusion: Sharing Educational Enhancements 6 June 2012 Bournemouth University.
Reports
- Greg, C., Anna, H., Helen, M., Jayne, K., Jeanette, S., John, K. and Ashley, W., 2021. Our Children's Future: Does Public Service Media Matter?. The Children’s Media Foundation. Available from: https://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PSMR-REPORT-UPDATED-1.6.22WEB.pdf.
- Ashley, W., Lily, L., Jackie, M., Colin, W., Becky, P., Andrew, B. and Peter, R., 2019. The Screen Time Debate: What do Children and Young People Think?. Children’s Media Foundation. Available from: https://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/archives/7275/the-screentime-debate.
Theses
- Woodfall and Woodfall, A., 2015. Children's cross-platform media preferences: a sense of kindness and a want for learning? PhD Thesis. Bournemouth University, Faculty of Media and Communication.
Exhibitions
- Woodfall, A., Page, R. and Aktuna, Z.. Future Stories. Photography. Bobby's Bournemouth. 17-27 March 2022.
Posters
- Woodfall, A., 2011. Exploring Children’s ‘Needs’ in Cross-platform Media Environments: A Mixed Method Approach. In: Q Conference.
Others
- Ashley, W., Hannie, K. and Woodfall, A., 2023. Editors’ Foreword: The Children’s Media Yearbook 2023. Children's Media Foundation. Published.
- Woodfall, A. and Hannie, K., 2022. Editors’ Foreword: Children’s Media Yearbook 2022. The Children’s Media Foundation. Published.
PhD Students
- Alan Fox. Television Studio Pedagogy
- Aneta Postek. The tensions between realism and the use of puppets (animatronics) in movie production in the era of Virtual Production., (In progress)
- Annie East. Examining ways in which students relate to the risk assessment when working on independent projects, (In progress)
- Christian Cohen, (In progress)
- Dee Hughes. Exploring Team Based Learning as a pedagogic tool on a scriptwriting programme, (In progress)
- Richard Page. The Dialogue of the Dogs: Towards a Quixotic Photography – Fictioning the Documentary Photobook., (In progress)
- Andrew Bissell. Strangers in strange lands: a hermeneutic inquiry into becoming a journalist, (Completed)
- Ross Adamson. Documentary Encounters: Making Sense of Documentary Filmmaking in Higher Education, (Completed)
- Yunfei Li. Chinese girls playing console game: what they think and might gain
Profile of Teaching PG
- THE PRODUCER'S DEVELOPMENT PROCESS - MA Producing Film and Television
- APPROACHES TO INDUSTRY - MA Producing Film and Television; MA Directing Film and Television; MA Cinematography for Film and Television; MA Post Production Editing; MA Scriptwriting; MA Sound Design for Screen
Profile of Teaching UG
- TELEVISION PRINCIPLES - BA (Hons) Television Production
- UNDERSTANDING MEDIA - BA (Hons) Television Production
- CONCEPT TO SCREEN - BA (Hons) Television Production
- CAREER PATHWAYS - BA (Hons) Television Production / BA (Hons) Media Production
- ENQUIRY AND EXPERIMENT - BA (Hons) Television Production
- UNDERSTANDING THE IMAGE - BA (Hons) Photography
- GRADUATE PROJECT - BA (Hons) Photography
- ENQUIRY AND EXPERIMENT - BA (Hons) Television Production
- MEDIA PRINCIPLES - BA (Hons) Television Production / BA (Hons) Media Production / BA (Hons) Film
- OPEN PROJECT - BA (Hons) Television Production
- GRADUATE PROJECT - BA (Hons) Television Production
- RESEARCHING MEDIA - BA (Hons) Television Production
- TELEVISION STUDIO SUMMER SCHOOL - Breda University
- DEVELOPING AND SELLING IDEAS - BA (Hons) Television Production
- DISSERTATION - BA (Hons) Television Production
- LANGUAGE OF TELEVISON - BA (Hons) Television Production
- MEDIA IN TRANSITION - BA (Hons) Media Production
- TELEVISION FORMS - BA (Hons) Television Production
- TELEVISION CRAFT SKILLS - BA (Hons) Television Production
- DEVELOPING ARGUMENTS - BA (Hons) Television Production
- PRODUCTION PORTFOLIO - BA (Hons) Television Production
- INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES - BA (Hons) Television Production
- LOCATION PRODUCTION - BA (Hons) Television Production
- CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT FOR TELEVISION - BA (Hons) Television Production
- DIGITAL FILM - BA (Hons) Film
Grants
- Children’s Public Service Media: what children understand by it and what it means to them (British Academy, 03 Dec 2023). Awarded
- Coastal Communities, Coastal Stories (National Lottery Heritage Funding, 01 Aug 2023). Awarded
External Responsibilities
- UKRI, Funding Reviewer (2024-)
- The Aspirations Academies Trust, Trustee (2024-), https://www.aspirationsacademies.org/
- Nuffield Health, Research Advisory Board Member (2023-), https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/do-same-language-subtitles-help-children-learn-to-read; Do Same Language Subtitles Help Children to Learn to Read?
- The Media Education Research Journal (MERJ), Editor (2022-), https://merj.info/
- Children's Media Foundation, Co-Editor (2021-), https://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/the-childrens-media-yearbook-2020; Children's Media Yearbook
- Charles University, Research Advisory Board Member (2021-2022)
- Children’s Media Foundation, Executive Board Member (2017-), http://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/
- Charles University, Prague, Funding reviewer (2017-)
- Children’s Media Foundation Academic Advisory Board, Board Member and Co-convenor (2016-), http://www.thechildrensmediafoundation.org/research
Internal Responsibilities
- Member, Quality Assurance and Enhancement Group
Journal Reviewing/Refereeing
- Nordicom Review, Anonymous peer review, 01 Jan 2020
- Journal of Children and Media, Anonymous peer review, 01 Jan 2016
- Celebrity Studies, Anonymous peer review, 01 Jan 2013
Public Engagement & Outreach Activities
- Photography in Conversation: Future Stories (19 Mar 2022)
- Knowing through Making: Exploratory Workshop for Educators and Researchers (14 Mar 2018)
- Messy Methods: Creative Research at Play (08 Jul 2017)
- The co-creation of unit assessments based on the principles of ‘backward design (10 Jun 2017)
- Mess and Mayhem: Creative / Reflective Methods at Play
Qualifications
- PhD in Children & Media (Bournemouth University, 2015)
- PGCE in Postgraduate Certificate in Education Practice (2014)
- MA in Producing Digital Film and Televsion (2009)
- HND in Broadcast Communications (Ravensbourne College, 1996)
Honours
- Fellow Higher Education Academy (Higher Education Academy, 2014)
- Fellow Royal Society of Arts (Royal Society of Arts, 2013)
Memberships
- Higher Education Academy, Fellow (2014-),
- MeCCSA (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association), Member (2011-), https://www.meccsa.org.uk/
- British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS), Member, https://www.baftss.org/
- European Communication Research and Education Association, Member,
- International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity, Member,
- NAHEMI (National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image), Member,
- Royal Society of Arts, Fellow,
- The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, Deputy Head, https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/centre-excellence-media-practice
- The Guild of Television Camera Professionals, Member,
- The Media Education Association, Member,
Broadcast Interview
- Media Industries Podcast, Public Service Media and the Child Audience, Can, O, 21 May 2024. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7d8CJQ7jCJ21W3LXvDSzoC?si=a4b1a68af9dd428c