Welcome
Hi, my name is Mike Ryder and I’m an academic with a special interest in digital marketing, social media and advertising. I currently teach marketing at Lancaster University, where I lead our MSc in Digital and Social Media Marketing. I also conduct inter-disciplinary research across the fields of literature, philosophy, history, technology studies and social science.
- 'Interdisciplinarity, huh?'
- 'Ethics and Autonomy in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest'
- 'Using OODA Loops to Build Sustainable Practice into Business Education' (2024)
- 'Are Internships Worth the Effort?' (2023)
- 'Rethinking reflective practice: John Boyd's OODA loop as an alternative to Kolb' (2022)
- Teaching mixed sized, split cohorts: A case study
- Using OODA loops to build sustainable practice into business education
- TEDx: The future of work
- Conscripts from birth: war and soldiery in the grim darkness of the far future
- Vietnam and the (re)birth of biopolitics
I have published numerous articles in The Conversation on topics ranging from killer robots to robotic decision making and science fiction. These have been republished across the web, on news sites such as Metro and The Independent. I have also provided comment for the national press, and have appeared on several radio shows including talkRADIO and eFM TBS.

Latest activity
- Why Warhammer Matters
- Five reasons Warhammer 40k should be considered a great work of science fiction
- Lessons from teaching mixed-sized cohorts
- The Internship Challenge
- Dealing with uncertainty – Time to move beyond Kolb?
- Is AI going to take your job?
- Foundation: five major themes in the work of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov
- A grim far future, or a dark present
- Visions of the future: five dark warnings from the world of classic science fiction
[Mike] has an amazing knowledge base [...] and is a keen analytical thinker. Mike's work ethic is second to none, his sense of professional responsibility is steadfast and he willingly guides colleagues through their work when help is needed. His intellect and skills make him a valuable part of any team, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside him.
Mike is incredibly hardworking with a phenomenal range of technical, editorial and creative skills. He has proved absolutely invaluable to the team and has quickly developed a reputation within the University that has led to more and more teams inviting him to lead on projects. I’d certainly recommend taking any opportunity you have to work with Mike.
One of Mike’s core strengths [...] is his ability to adapt to changing work priorities and successfully deliver projects critical to his employer’s success. Mike was a very valued member of our community of digital specialists [at CCCU] and his legacy [...] remains to this day. I very much enjoyed working with Mike and I have great expectations of his future career.