He is the director of the Leeds Russian Centre (Russia[n] in the Global Context). He is the founding and principal editor of the journal Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media (www.digitalicons.org). He explores theories of empire and nationhood, global journalism and grassroots media, consumption and celebrity by considering the Russian Federation and the Russian-speaking world as his chief case study. In the past two years he has published a monograph entitled ‘Contemporary Russian Cinema: Symbols of a New Era’ (Edinburgh UP), and edited volumes ‘Russian Aviation, Space Flight and Visual Culture’ (Routledge), 'New Media in New Europe-Asia’ (Routledge) and 'From Central to Digital: Television in Russia' (Nauka-Press).