Jo Coghlan's research uses a sociological and political lens to examine a range of popular culture forms and contexts. An interdisciplinary researcher, Jo has conducted research on a range of popular and material culture areas including gendered political fashion, death studies with a focus on death fashion, critical film and television studies with a focus on class and violence, romance studies which examine issues of representation and historical accuracy, a study of the global history of swim suits (with Dr Lisa J. Hackett), James Bond studies with a focus on material culture, framing of royalty in popular culture with a focus on gender, fashion and celebrity and representations of animals in popular culture in a post-humanist context. Jo is currently writing the history of pigs in popular culture, and along with Lisa Hackett and Huw Nolan is writing a book on the royals in popular culture (Routledge 2024).
Jo is a co-founder of UNE’s Popular Culture Research Network (PopCRN), Australia’s leading popular culture research network and is an Editorial Board Member of The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture (Intellect).