Gillian Doyle: Shaping the International Debate on Media

A profile of the award-winning Professor of Media Economics and her crucial work on policy, public service media, and the digital challenge

Gillian Doyle is Professor of Media Economics and Director of the MSc in Media Management at the University of Glasgow. A former President of the Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI), Gillian has recently served as President of the World Media Economics and Management Conference (WMEMC 2023-2025), which was held at the University of Warsaw. During this time, she collaborated closely with colleague and current IMMAA President Gregory F. Lowe (Professor in Residence at Northwestern University Qatar) and local host Dr. Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska.

Gillian has carried out, supervised, and contributed to research projects funded by prestigious organizations such as the UK Research Councils, the European Commission, the OECD, and the Council of Europe. She is a highly recognized scholar in her field, having received the Journal of Media Economics Honour Award, the European Media Management Association (EMMA) prize for outstanding contributions to scholarship, and the UK Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) award for exceptional contribution. As the author of key texts in the field, including Understanding Media Economics (SAGE), her contributions have been instrumental in shaping international discussions on media sustainability, independence, and policy in the UK, Ireland, and beyond.

The chance to do policy-relevant work

For Gillian, a key fulfillment of her research is the opportunity to contribute to and inform deliberations in the development of media policy. Her policy-relevant work includes research on behalf of the OECD about international trade in audiovisual services. In 2020, she was appointed to Ireland’s Future of Media Commission (FOMC) to advise on the funding and delivery of public service broadcasting. This work was highly pertinent to her latest UK Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded project, which seeks to understand public service media’s (PSM), increasingly pivotal role in supporting democracy and security in a changing digital environment, with important implications for a needed rethink of public value.

Looking ahead

In her forthcoming book Public Service Media and the Digital Challenge: Purpose, Value and Funding, to be published by Intellect Books in London, Gillian, in collaboration with Professor Raymond Boyle and Dr. Kenny Barr, argues that PSM should be regarded, in and of itself, as a critical infrastructural asset due to its role in combating misinformation, promoting social cohesion and supporting emergency preparedness. Given the far-reaching implications in an increasingly uncertain world, she encourages researchers in the field to focus on what this role means for funding and public policy in the coming years.

Gillian’s research agenda is persistently driven by her interest in advances in digital technology, a subject that has attracted much attention from media economists. For instance, in recent work with Dr. Sabine Baumann (Professor for Digital Business at the Berlin School of Economics and Law), Gillian examined the extent to which contemporary advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) with its plentiful opportunities to automate aspects of creative work across media and other cultural industries could provide a cure for Baumol’s cost disease, a key concept in cultural economics.

To follow Professor Gillian Doyle’s latest work, please visit her University of Glasgow page at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cca/staff/gilliandoyle