Jo’s research uses both sociological and political lenses to examine a range of popular culture forms and contexts. An interdisciplinary researcher, Jo conducts research on a range of popular and material culture topics 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, representations of animals in popular culture in a post-humanist context and royals, and issues of celebrity and fandom in modern society.
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).