Lawrence gained his PhD at the University of East Anglia in 2001, and is also a graduate of UEA’s Film Studies with an Archiving MA. He was senior researcher on UEA’s British Cinema History Research Project from 2001-2005, and taught on the MA and BA courses at UEA. 

Since 2005 he has taught at a variety of institutions, including Southampton University, De Montford University, Birkbeck College and The University of Greenwich. He is currently a full time lecturer at King's College London. 

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

• British cinema and popular culture before 1970
• silent cinema
• film adaptation and cross media connections
• musicals
• film archiving 
• representations of the 1914-18 war

Lawrence is currently working on a project which seeks to decolonize British film history teaching, and highlight the history of British cinema as an imperial (rather than a national) formation. He has previously published books on British Cinema and Middlebrow culture in the interwar years (2009), The Great war in Popular British Cinema of the 1920s (2015) and Silent Cinema: Before the Pictures Got Small (2017).

Lawrence welcomes applications for PhD topics related to any of his research interests. For more details, please see his full research profile.

Teaching

His teaching interests include Silent Cinema, British Cinema, Cinema and War, The Hollywood Musical and the representation of London on film.

Expertise and Public Engagement

Lawrence has appeared on BBC4 television documentaries including The Cinema Show: The Forgotten Decade, and Glamour's Golden Age: Hooked on Hollywood".

Blog on Cinema-going in the past: https://atthepictures.photo.blog/