Christina Wilkins

The majority of my early academic experience was at the University of Southampton where I studied English. I moved into Film and Television with my PhD which looked at the mediation of gendered and religious identities in contemporary vampire narratives. This led me to thinking about adaptations, which has been my particular area of interest for the last ten years. I am currently the Co-Chair of the Association for Adaptation Studies (AAS) and I established the BAFTSS Adaptation SIG in 2022. I am an Associate Editor for the Adaptation journal. Alongside this, I have been researching into mental health and established the Mental Health Humanities Researcher Network in 2023.

I have previously taught at the University of Winchester and the University of Southampton across the film, English, and American studies departments. Outside of academia, I have been a poetry editor and copywriter.

My primary research area is adaptations. I have published various chapters related to this field, regularly participate in the AAS conferences (and am on the board of trustees), have established the BAFTSS Adaptation group, am Associate Editor for Adaptation and have recently released books in this area. Embodying Adaptation: Character and the Body  (2022) examines the connection between character and the body, and the hierarchies inherent within this relationship. It seeks to find a new approach to adaptations that is framed by the body and its importance in our increasingly intangible society. Authenticity and Adaptation (2025) is a recent edited collection I put together exploring the intersections between authenticity in contemporary culture and the concept of adaptation.

My other research interests include mental health, identity, memory, and queer studies. This is reflected in the chapters I have published on these topics. Another strand of my research is male mental health and suicide in contemporary culture, which is the focus of my newest monograph, Male Mental Illness in Contemporary Culture.