I welcome PhD proposals from students interested in researching any topics that lies at the intersection of politics and the media, across a range of different methodologies (quantitative and qualitative), and either focusing on a single country or comparing different countries.
If you have an idea for a research you would like to pursue as a doctoral student, feel free to get in touch with me.
Students in Progress
Ismail Kadir Hurdogan, University of Edinburgh (co-supervised with Kate Orton-Johnson)
Kadir’s PhD sheds light on how social media influencers engage young audiences in debates about political issues and debates in the UK and US.
Chinmayanand Ingale, University of Edinburgh (co-supervised with Clare Llewellyn)
Chinmayanand’s PhD entails a cross-national study of social media election advertising regulations in the US, UK, India and South Africa.
Benazir Pratamawaty, University of Edinburgh (co-supervised with Clare Llewellyn)
Benazir’s PhD focuses on the dynamics of social media activism and democracy in Indonesia.
Andrew Ross, Loughborough University (co-supervised with Andrew Chadwick): “Understanding the technological democratisation of public opinion cues”
Andrew’s PhD, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explores how social media metrics can shape the formation of public opinion. Andrew’s previous research has been published in New Media & Society.
Students Who Completed
Harvey Dodds, Loughborough University (co-supervised with Andrew Chadwick and Martin Sykora): “A Study of Social Class Signalling on Social Media and its Impacts”, passed with minor corrections in June 2025
Harvey’s PhD, funded by the Online Civic Cultures Centre for Doctoral Training, explored the relationship between social class and social media.
Rachel Armitage, Loughborough University (co-supervised with Martin Sykora and Cristian Tileagă): “‘Tackling misinformation on social media: limiting the spread of misleading UK political news online”, passed with minor corrections in January 2023
Rachel’s thesis, funded by the Online Civic Cultures Centre for Doctoral Training, explores how UK social media users might be dissuaded from sharing misleading political news online. It begins by examining the psychological factors that could predispose an individual to believe and/or share false information online, identifying worldview congruence, analytic cognitive style and sharing motivation as central components influencing such sharing behaviour. It then considers how different types of social media warning labels might interact with these variables to reduce propensity to believe and/or share misleading UK political news, including by shifting participants toward a more reflective analytic cognitive style.
Amber Macintyre, Royal Holloway, University of London (external supervisor, co-supervised with Ben O’Loughlin and Ursula Hackett): “Surveilling the Surveillants: Organizational Practices, Democratic Debate, and the Ethical Challenges of the Political Monitoring of Citizens”, passed with major corrections in January 2021
Amber’s research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, provides an in-depth account of whether, how, and why civil society organisations acquire and use large quantities of digital data. The project explored what personal data the organisations gather, what processes they employ to do so, and how the results of data analyses are fed back into their strategies and governance. The project highlighted how these data practices may limit or promote various forms of democracy.
Dr Nikki Soo, Royal Holloway, University of London (co-supervised with Ben O’Loughlin): “MPs on Standby: Representations and Repair in Everyday MP-Constituent Performance”, passed with no corrections in December 2017
Nikki’s dissertation examined the MP-constituent relationship, focusing on constituency services carried out by the MP and how effective political communication is carried out in the hybrid media environment.
Dr. Ornella Urso, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence: “The framing of immigration in Italy and Spain. A newspaper content analysis, 1995-2011”, PhD awarded cum laude in 2016.
Ornella’s dissertation explored the connection between framing and politicization of the immigration through the integration of media studies and political science. It shed light on the framing of immigration in the news at the national level while assessing the extent to which different factors have driven the process in Italy and Spain over more than fifteen years.
Dr. Diego Ceccobelli, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence: “Political leaders on Facebook: A comparative analysis on popularization in contemporary liberal democracies”, PhD awarded in 2015.
Diego’s dissertation investigated how 127 political leaders in 31 contemporary liberal democracies communicate on Facebook, and how users interact with leaders’ messages from September 2012 until October 2014. Based on hand coding of 25,151 posts, the research finds that Facebook fosters the personalization and popularization of political communication, and that, while leaders publish a large amount of posts emphasizing policy proposals, Facebook users prefer to like and share posts that attack political opponents. Finally, Diego employed Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to shed light on the role of systemic characteristics, in particular the presence of presidentialism.
Cristian Vaccari 