Department of Media Communication and Sociology, University of Leicester, United Kingdom

Principal Investigator for the H2020 project for the European Commission DigiGen THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS ON THE DIGITAL GENERATION, leading the work on ICT and Civic Participation (2019-2022) https://www.digigen.eu

Other Key funded projects projects include: Principal Investigator IRDF ODA: COVID-19 Urgency Call: COVID19 Disinformation and Response in India, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand: A Comparative Social Network Analysis Study on Twitter (2020-2021);

Principal Investigator BA/Leverhulme The New Frontier of Industrial Relations Research: Investigating the Social Media Networks and Digital Geography of Contemporary Industrial Action (2020-2021);

Co-Investigator Enurture ESRC Live Streaming and Mental Health in Children and Youth (2019-2021); Principal Investigator HEFCE GCREF Megacities and Development: Megamachines of Hope and Alienation (2018-2019);

Co-Investigator ESRC PACCS The Common Good: Ethics and Rights in Cyber Security (2014-2017). Principal Investigator FP7 EU MIG@NET Transnational Digital Networks, Migration and Gender (2010-2013)

My primary scholarship is a sustained inquiry into how digital networks have transformed conflict, security, activism, and geopolitics. Employing diverse digital methods such as netnography and various forms of data analytics in collaboration with scholars from political communication, history, sociology, and computer science, I have led research on the impact of digital communication technologies on ideology, governance, and organisation, particularly in relation to conflict, cybersecurity, and digital governance. Combining elements of digital media theory and internet studies with social movement/resource mobilisation theory, and international conflict analysis, I developed an integrated framework (Cyberconflict Theory) with specific entry points for scholars of political conflicts in the everyday-networked environment. This had a particular focus on the use of digital networks by protest organisations, social movements, and insurgencies, for the investigation of civic media engagement, conflict, and mobilisation.