Congratulations to our newest CAMRI PhD graduate: Maria Bortnovskaya

We congratulate Dr. Maria Bortnovskaya on being awarded a PhD degree with a thesis titled “Content personalisation strategies in the UK news media and their impact on operations across media organisations.”

Dr. Alessandro D’Arma, Director of Studies, expressed that “it was a pleasure to supervise Maria’s PhD research. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the thesis offers valuable empirical insights into the varied industry understandings, practices, and implications of personalised news systems. The research makes a meaningful contribution to the field, and the award is a well-deserved recognition of the quality and relevance of Maria’s work.”

The thesis was examined by Prof. Tim Raats (Professor at the Communication Sciences Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Coordinator of their Medialab) and Prof. Paul Dwyer (University of Westminster’s Director of Student Enterprise and founder of the Westminster Enterprise Network).

Prof. Tim Raats praised Maria’s work by saying: “It is highly topical and relevant, tackling issues that are increasingly important for both media scholarship and industry practice. The research managed to capture the complexity of datafiction of news publishers globally based on a rich study of the UK and beyond.”

Prof. Paul Dwyer also praised Maria’s work: “This study makes a significant contribution to knowledge about how news organisations are using personalisation techniques to compete for audience attention in this context.”

We wish Maria every success in her future professional endeavours!