Role
Dr Adrian Smith is a lecturer in Journalism and Media Production, delivered as part of the Sino-UK Joint Institute with Communication University of China (CUC).
Career overview
Adrian joined NTU in 2025 and has been working in media education for over twenty years. He has been a course leader for BTECs and A Levels in Media and Film Studies, and was the Course Convenor in Film Studies at the International Study Centre at the University of Sussex from 2016 to 2025. He completed his PhD at the University of Sussex in 2018.
Research areas
Adrian has research interests in the distribution and exhibition of British and European popular cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, and has spoken about this at conferences and was a guest speaker at a festival in Sweden in 2024. As well as publications in journals and edited collections, he has produced bonus content, including commentary tracks, video interviews and written essays, for many releases of old films on physical media. He is also an experienced podcaster.
External activity
Adrian is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Publications
- “What Are the X-Rated Secrets of the Windmill Girls?” in Adult Themes: British Cinema and the X Certificate in the Long 1960s (2023) Bloomsbury
- Smith A, Etienne A (Editor), Halligan B (Editor), Weedman C (Editor). https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/adult-themes-9781501375262/
- “The Yellow Teddybears: Exploitation as Education” in Researching Historical Screen Audiences (2023), Edinburgh University Press
- Egan, K. (editor) Smith, M. (editor), Terrill, J. (editor). https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-researching-historical-screen-audiences.html
- Smith, A. (2021) “International Sexpionage! European Popular Film on Sixties British Cinema Screens” Contemporary British History, 35(3), 340–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2021.1925547
- Smith, Adrian (2018). The distribution and exploitation of popular European film in British cinemas, 1960 – 1975. University of Sussex. Thesis. https://hdl.handle.net/10779/uos.23458979.v1
- Smith, A. (2018) “The Language of Love:Swedish Sex Education in 1970s London” Film Studies, 18 (1). https://doi.org/10.7227/FS.18.0003
- “The Jacey cinema chain and independent distribution and exhibition in 1960s Britain” in The Routledge Companion to British Cinema History, Routledge
- Hunter, I.Q. (editor) Porter, L. (editor) Smith, J. (editor). https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-British-Cinema-History-1st-Edition/Hunter-Porter-Smith/p/book/9780415706193