We encourage you to explore the range and focus of recent PhD student research within the Communication and Media Research Institute.

2024


Christopher Day

The BBC and European integration, c. 1945-1975

Huanyu Huang

Speak in Women’s Way: Online Feminist Movements and Social Media Impact of #MeToo China 2018

Yuchao Li

Nationalism and Social Media in China: A Case Study of Chinese Nationalist Movement against Muslim minorities on Sina Weibo

Rebecca Lewis

A Conscious Creation? Political Economy, Globalisation and Cultural Representation in Terrestrial South Korean Miniseries 2002-2017

Lookman Sanusi

The Challenges of Digital Switchover in Nigeria within the Global Trend in Digital Broadcasting

Samuel Gregory

From Social Media to Deepfakes: Participatory human rights witnessing and advocacy using audiovisual media, incorporating the emerging impacts of deceptive AI and technologies for authenticity and trust (2007-22) (PhD by Published Work)

Nanette Willberg

Designing Social Micro-Learning Interventions for Blended Learning Scenarios in Higher Education: Mixed Methods Research at Macromedia University of Applied Sciences

Samuel Neves

A Constructivist Grounded Theory of Self-Disclosure in Hybrid Pastoral Care

 

2023


Xiaomin Hu

Moving To the West: Media, Cultural Transnationalism and Identity. Cultural Dynamics of Korean Women in Diaspora

Ruiyue Zhang

Hegemony of BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera’s Framing of Protests in China: The Cases of Wukan and Hong Kong

Mohammed Faisal

Community Radio Broadcasting and Local Governance Participation in Ghana: A Study of Simli Radio in the Kumbungu District of Northern Region

Robert Boughen

Sino-African Journalism and Journalistic Fields: CGTN Africa’s Workers Between Worlds

Colin Barrow

A Comparative Study of How Political Journalists in Four European Countries Reported on the Coronavirus Pandemic

Paninee Boonlert

Policy Making and Public Sphere: An Analysis of Community Radio in Thailand (1997-2021)

Paulina Kuranchie

Decolonising Public Relations in Africa: Centring Local Epistemes in Ghanaian Political Communication

Sally Ann Gross

For the Love of Music – Crossing the Technological Divide; An examination of the Impact of Digital Disruption on Issues of Social Reproduction, Mental Health and Inequality in the Working Lives of the Music Workforce in the UK (PhD by Published Work)

 

2022


Kala Geetanjali

Internet Memes as Instruments of Subversion in the Context of Islam and Muslims

Anastasia Chabanova

VFX – A New Frontier: The Impact of Innovative Technology on Visual Effects

Reward Mushayabasa

Democratic Transition and Digital Media Activism in Africa: A Zimbabwean Case Study

Doug Specht

The codification of local knowledges through digital cartographic artefacts: A Case study of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Kobina Bedu-addo

Power, Policy, and Digital Switchover An Analysis of Communication Policy Making and its Challenges for Regulating Ghana’s Digital Television Sector

Antonello Bocchino

Using Social Media to Build a Counter-Power Movement: Multiple Sclerosis and CCSVI, a Case Study

Manisha Ganguly

The Future of Investigative Journalism in the Age of Automation, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Xinyi Yang

The Political Economy of Internet Celebrities in China

 

2021


Chen Yang

The identity construction and representation of diasporic Chinese content creators on YouTube

Steven Barclay

BBC School Broadcasting, Progressivism in Education, and Literacy 1957-1979

Dennis Boyles

Journalism and the Problem of Progress (PhD By Published Work)

Guo-ting Lin

Music Culture and the Self-Presentation of Indigenous Musicians on Social Media in Contemporary Taiwan

Marilia Hernandes Jardim

The Corset and the Hijab: The Discursivisation of Identity Between the West and the Orient (Phd By Published Work)

Oliver Marino

Günther Anders’ Theory of Media and Communication: Developing a Conception of Technological Domination, Alienation and Ideology with Marx Beyond Marx

Syeda Rizvi

Media Consumption and the Construction of Diasporic Identities of Youth of Pakistani Origin in Britain

Shaiju Vadakkemury

Social Media Literacy for Empowering Children with New Literacy Skills for Reading, Writing, and Interacting in the Networked Digital Setting: An Action Research Study of Teenage Students in Mumbai

Ergin Yaman

The Implications of Parental and Child Smartphone Use on Parent-Child and Family Relationships: A Case-Study of The Turkish-Speaking Community in London

 

2020


Noura Al Obeidli

Emirati Women Journalists Bargaining with Patriarchy in Search of Equality

James Asante

African Politics in the Digital Age: A Study of Political Party-Social Media Campaign Strategies in Ghana

Peter Block

How People Successfully Get In and Get On in the UK Broadcast Television Industry: Implications for Skills Policymakers

Stefan Candea

Cross-border Investigative Journalism: A Critical Perspective

Charusmita Charusmita

Filmi vs the Everyday: Hindi films in the Lives of Women in an Indian Village

Nathasha Edirippulige Fernando

Empathic Narratives: A Case Study of Immigrati/E in Milan Perceiving the ‘Migration Crisis’

Jihad Fakhreddine

Can Arabs Represent America? The Performativity of U.S-Arab Mediated Public Diplomacy

Rachel Langworth

Media Ownership and the Exploitation of Media Power for Corporate Self-interest

Yuqi Na

Exploring Digital Discourse with Chinese Characteristics: Contradictions and Tensions

Wendy Sherer

Contemporary Fictional Representations of Anglican Clergy on British Public Service Television

Evgueni Tchubykalo

Wikipedia Conflict Representation in Articles of War

 

2019


Antonios Broumas

Intellectual Commons and the Law: Normative Aspects of Commons-Based Peer Production

Simon Das

Managing Creativity in Magazine Publishing: The 4Ps of Creativity

Claudia Fragoso De Oliveira Sarmento

An Alternative Press? New Forms of News Reporting in Brazil

Aliaksandr Herasimenka

Political Organisation, Leadership and Communication in Authoritarian Settings: Digital Activism in Belarus and Russia

Dima Issa

Song is the Secret of Existence: Fairouz and the Arab diaspora in London and Doha

Jamileh Kadivar

Power, Ideology, and Propaganda: A Critical Discourse Study of IS’s Media, 2014-2017

Ola Makki

BBC Arabic TV Service and the Lebanese Audience(s): Can They Engage with Each Other?

Pablo Morales

The Reception of International News Channels in Hispanic Latin America. A study on Audience Response to the Soft Power Endeavours of China, Russia and Iran

Teerada Na Jatturas

@ctivism and Politics in the Digital Era

 

2018


Mary Culpepper

I Make, Therefore I Am: Agency, Action, Affordance, and the Path to Creative Identity

Musab Iqbal

Identifying ‘Immigrants’ through Violence: Memory, Press, and Archive in the Making of ‘Bangladeshi Migrants’

Istvan Janto-Petnehazi

Grey Areas: A Cross-country Comparative Study of User-Generated Hate Speech, Incivility and Journalistic Responsibility for Online Comments

Duygu Karatas

Occupy Gezi’s Collective Identity and the Role of Twitter in its Construction

I-ching Liao

The Vital Role of Crowdfunding and Social Media in Establishing an Art Career: A ‘How To’

Velisava Hillman

Fostering Creativity Through the use of Digital Tablets: An investigation into the potential of tablet use for creative production among seven-to-ten-year-old children in Malta

Vivien Marsh

A Trojan Dragon? CCTV News in English and the Battle for Global Influence 2014-16

Jose Paulo

Public Service Broadcasting and the Construction of the Angolan Nation: Audiences’ Perceptions of News at 8pm and Muangolé

Tiankai Tang

Creating Mediated Cosmopolitanism? Global Media Flows and the Beijing Youth

 

2017


Savyasaachi Jain

Characterising Media Systems: Insights from a Case Study of Paid News in India

Laima Janciute

EU politics and the Making of the General Data Protection Regulation: Consociationalism, Policy Networks and Institutionalism in the Process of Balancing Actor Interests

Dianjing Li

Peripheral Alternative: Media and Tibetan nationalism in the Chinese Tibetosphere

Dinara Tokbaeva

Charismatic Leadership of Media Businesses: A Case Study of Leaders of Two Media Businesses in The Postsoviet States of Russia and Kyrgyzstan (1991-2016)

 

2016


Yewande Adekunle

Evolving Usage and Access to ICTs in the Health Care Sector in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects

Feryal Awan

Occupied Childhoods: Discourses and Politics of Childhood and Their Place in Palestinian and Pan-­Arab Screen Content for Children

Miriam Berg

Social and Cultural Factors in the Success of Turkish Drama Series among Arab Audiences in Qatar

Anastasia Denisova

Political Memes as Tools of Dissent and Alternative Digital Activism in the Russian-language Twitter

Yu Gu

Strategies of Newsroom Convergence: Comparing UK and Chinese Newspaper Groups

Xiao Han

Exploring the Relationship between Women’s Empowerment and the Internet in China: Potentials and Constraints

Hong Li

Formatted Entertainment in China: Change in Television Production Practices

Shabnam Moinipour

Iranian Discourse on Human Rights: State TV Coverage and the Views of Iranian Migrants

Martha Onyeajuwa

Assessment of Ordinary Consumer Representation in Liberalised Mobile Telecommunications Markets: A Case Study of Nigeria

Yennue Zarate

Revamping Journalism in the Midst of a Conflict? Mapping the World of Local War Journalists

Dan Zhang

Business-to-Business (B2B) Media in UK: A Mixed Methods Study Using Product Variables to Assess the Impacts of Social Media on Product Strategies

 

2015


Roji Alex

The Politics of Representation in Indian Media: Implications of the Portrayal of Hindus and Minority Groups

Anulika Agina

Nigerian filmmakers and their construction of a political past (1967-1998)

Graham Bond

Guiding Public Protest: Assessing the Propaganda Model of China’s Hybrid Newspaper Industry 

Diana Garrisi

Reading Skin in Victorian Newspapers: An Analysis of British Newspapers’ Coverage of Human Skin, 1840-1900

Lawrie Hallett

The Space Between: Defining the Place for Community Radio

Julia Jones

My Generation: Examining the Music Tastes and Commercial Opportunities within the New Audience of 40-59 Year Olds in the UK

Helena Nassif

Home Under Siege: Bab al-Hara, Televising Morality and Everyday Life in the Levant

James Painter

Media Representations of Uncertainty about Climate Change

Jingwei Piao

Financial Media, Globalisation, and China’s Economic Integration: Comparing Narrative Construction of The Economist and Caijing

Imir Rashid

The Politics of DTT Policy-Making in Bulgaria: The Significance of Path Dependencies and Institutional Characteristics

Nadine El Sayed

From Underground to Elite: Egyptian Bloggers before and after the 2011 Uprising

Neil Stevenson

The Production and Mediatisation of Political Talk Television in Britain, the United States, and Australia

Thu Vu

Managing Vietnamese Newsroom: The Role of Internal Communication

 

2014


Rikke Bjerg Jensen

Military Media Machine: How the British Military Communicated Afghanistan at Home

Amanda Benson

An Investigation into BBC Radio 4 Comedy Appreciation Ratings (AIs): ‘The cesspool with the Velvet Lid’

Julia Bourgett

Children’s Public Service Broadcasters and Their Challenges in the Online Era: A Comparison between the UK and Germany

Lorenzo Coretti

The Purple Movement: Social Media and Activism in Berlusconi’s Italy

Jelena Dzakula

Co-regulation of Advertising in the United Kingdom: Regulators as Corporate Bodies and the Effect on Citizen Empowerment

Amira Halperin

The Use of New Media by the UK’s Palestinian Diaspora

Janis Juzefovics

Defining the Nation, Defining Public Television: Discourses of Publics on Public Service television in Post-communist Latvia

Guiping Liu

China’s Popular TV Dramas & Their role in the Party’s Political Communication since 2001

Miao Mi

How Newspapers Respond to Technological Change: A Comparison Between the UK and China

Michael Milne

Moving the Goalposts: The Transformation of Television Sport in the UK (1992-2014)

Didem Özkul

Mobile Nodes: Mobile and Locative media, Everyday Life and Sense of Place

Edmundo Bracho-Polanco

Journalism Practice, Media and Democracy in Venezuela (2000-2010)

Tim Riley

Social Media: Digital Content Creation and Sharing. A study of Adults

Pedzisai Ruhanya

Alternative Media and African Democracy: The Daily News and Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe, 1997-2010

Gamze Toylan

Reading The League of Gentlemen: Study of the creation process of a Comedy / Horror series

 

2013


Najat Alsaied

Development Initiatives in Programming on Privately-owned Arab Satellite Television and Their Teception among Disadvantaged Saudi Women

John Hondros

Traditional Amateur Video Producers’ Use of the Internet: Making Connections in a Complex and Contested Environment

Chris Nineham

Making the News: The Media and the Movement against the Iraq War

 

2012


Bahjat Abuzanouna

Enhancing Democratic Communication? Television and Partisan Politics in Palestine

Ehsan Bakhshandeh

Politics of Iran-West Relations within the Context of Iranian Occidentalism: Image of the West in the Iranian Press during Reformism (1997-2001) and Conservatism (2005-2009)

Carlos Barreneche Jurado

Localizing the Media, Locating Ourselves: A critical Comparative Analysis of Socio-spatial Sorting in Locative Media Platforms (Google and Flickr 2009-2011)

Dawei Guo

Beyond Totalitarian Nostalgia: A Critical Urban Reception Study of Historical Drama on Contemporary Chinese Television

Jonathan Ilan

Picturing the World’s News: News Photography, Cultural Production, Thomson Reuters and the International Process of News Making

Philip Lin

Global Gamers, Transnational Play, Imaginary Battlefield: Encountering the Gameplay Experience in the War-themed First-person-shooter, Call of Duty

Brilliant Pongo

Online Diasporic Political Spheres: Inside the Emerging Spaces for Zimbabweans

 

2011


Abdullahi Abubakar

Media Consumption amid Contestation: Northern Nigerians’ Engagement with the BBC World Service

Benedetta Brevini

Towards PSB 2.0?: Applying the PSB Ethos to Online Media in Europe: A Comparative Policy study of Denmark, France and Spain

Shuang Li

The New Generation of Lifestyle Magazine Journalism in China: The Professional Approach

Salvatore Scifo

The Origins and Development of Community Radio in Britain under New Labour (1997-2007)

Yan Yuan

A Different Place in the Making: The Everyday Practices of Rural Migrants in Chinese Urban Villages

 

2010


Kristin Bredemeier

An Analysis of the Correlation Among Fashion Newspaper Coverage and Public Relations in the United Kingdom

Mascha Brichta

‘Love it or Loath It’: A Cross-national Comparison of Tabloid Reading Experiences in the UK and Germany

Aliaa Dawoud

Utilizing Mass Media in the Political Empowerment of Egyptian Women

Heycan Erhurman

Articulations of Memory in Northern Cyprus: Between Turkishness, Europeanness and Cypriotness

Janne Halttu

The Iraq Crisis of 2003 and Press-State Relations: An Analysis of Press Coverage in Finland, Ireland and the UK

Monica Horten

The Political Battle for Online Content in the European Union: The Enigmatic Case of Telecoms Law Being Commandeered for Copyright

Hsiao-wen Lee

The Public and the Popular Media in China

Mahalakshmi Mahadevan

Engendering Familial Citizens: Serial-viewing among Middle-Class Women in Urban India

Andrea Medrado

The Waves of the Hills: Community and Radio in the Everyday Life of a Brazilian Favela

Brilliant Mhlanga

The Politics of Ethnic Minority Radio in South Africa

Kristin Skoog

The ‘Responsible’ Woman: The BBC and Women’s Radio 1945-1955

Srdjan Stojanovic

Political History of the Serbian Media in Transition (2000-2006)

Maha Taki

Bloggers and the Blogosphere in Lebanon & Syria: Meanings and Activities