With Apologies for Cross Posting: *Dear Colleagues,* *We are now just days away from the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and phase one of The World Star Wars Project is well under way.* *Huge thanks to those of you who have already filled in and helped to circulate our questionnaire. * *We would like to call on you once more for one big final push. If you are in any position to help us, we really would be incredibly grateful!* *Please do share the link -- www.worldstarwars.net <http://www.worldstarwars.net> -- with your friends, family, colleagues and students. * *In case you missed the announcement about this project last time around, the original email can be found below.* *Best wishes, Happy Holidays, and May the Force Be With You!* *The World Star Wars Project team * *--* Dear Colleagues, I am writing to let you know about a research project that has been launched today and to ask for your help! My name is Dr. Richard McCulloch and I am Co-Director of 'The World Star Wars Project.' Inspired by Martin Barker et al's 'Lord of the Rings' and 'World Hobbit' global studies, 'The World Star Wars Project' is a five-year longitudinal/ latitudinal study with multiple phases. The first phase is an online questionnaire that aims to capture audience strategies of anticipation and expectation about the forthcoming film, *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (released on December 17th). As yet, we have not secured funding for the project, so we would be incredibly grateful if you could disseminate the link among your friends, family, students, and anyone else you can think of. It doesn't matter if you love Star Wars, hate it, or really don't care -- we simply want to hear from as many people as we can! The window of opportunity here is quite small. We have twenty days or so until the release of the film, but wanted to open up a space for data gathering when fever pitch was reaching a crescendo. Given that this is the first Star Wars film in a decade, and the first Star Wars film since the Lucasfilm/ Disney merger, this is a one-time opportunity, we believe, to capture 'audiences in flight' on the cusp of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. Here is the link to the website: http://www.worldstarwars.net/ We will be providing more information about the project on the website and will be asking researchers from around the world to join the project to collaborate on the global research. In the meantime, if anyone requires further information or would like to chat about collaboration or what have you, then please contact Project Director William Proctor ( [log in to unmask]). 'We would be honoured if you would join us' Best Wishes *The World Star Wars Project team* *Director:* Dr. William Proctor (Bournemouth University) *Co-Director:* Dr. Richard McCulloch (Regent's University London) *Primary Research Group:* Dr. Lucy Bennett (Cardiff University) Dr. Bertha Chin (Swinburne University, Malaysia) Dr. Ruth Deller (Sheffield Hallam University) Bethan Jones (Aberystwyth University) Dr. Lincoln Geraghty (University of Portsmouth) Dr. Tom Phillips (University of East Anglia) Dr. Sarah Ralph (University of Northumbria) Dr. Jason Scott (University of Leeds Trinity) *Executive Advisory Board:* Professor Martin Barker (Aberystwyth University) Professor Matt Hills (Aberystwyth University) Professor Clarissa Smith (University of Sunderland) -- *Dr. Richard McCulloch* Lecturer in Film Studies Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences Regent's University London, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4NS Email: [log in to unmask] Twitter: @rjmcculloch Staff Profile http://www.regents.ac.uk/about/who-we-are/our-staff/richard-mcculloch.aspx Board Member Fan Studies Network fanstudies.org ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]