Experimentation on TikTok, Standardisation on Reels? Party Short-Form Video Use in the 2024 UK General Election | Article | Media and Communication Rosalynd Southern, Niamh Cashell, Liam McLoughlin, Ploykamol Suwantawit

Brand new publication co-authored by faculty member @rosalynd.bsky.social!

www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcomm...

Our PGR conference is coming up soon! Details in images below.

Winds of change – modelling the onshore wind energy landscape of Great Britain for Net Zero targets Society needs to reduce its consumption of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-heavy resources to reduce its impact on the planet and climate. Thus, the Un…

New publication co-authored by department member Dr. Mark Pogson!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Strategic Financial Communication: A Trajectory into the Future Published in International Journal of Strategic Communication (Vol. 20, No. 2, 2026)

New article by the department’s Dr. Rudi Palmieri co-authored with Dr. Marlies Whitehouse in the International Journal of Strategic Communication www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

'Cutting through the noise: The legitimacy of the European Convention on Human Rights in the British press' by @katiabalabanova.bsky.social & Gemma Horton

🔗 buff.ly/LEgf1TB

@commmedia.bsky.social, @sotauol.bsky.social, @livunihss.bsky.social, @digipol.bskysocial, @sheffielduni.bsky.social

Our 2026 PGR Conference will take place on the 27th and 28th April in the School of the Arts Library. Come along for a chance to learn more about their research areas and engage in thought-provoking discussions about the future of the field.

Come work with us! We are advertising for a Lecturer (T&S, Grade 7) Data Science and Communication (0.8 FTE for 12 months). See link below!

tinyurl.com/3etc7zsk

Ros holding the book and smiling

Cover of book. It's purple with a picture of a woman's hand holding a smartphone with a black and white starburst behind it. The title and author name appear in white writing

In 2015, a story emerged alleging that then- Prime Minister David Cameron had placed 'a private part of his anatomy' into the mouth of a dead pig's head during an initiation ceremony at the University of Oxford. Upor this allegation breaking, social media eruptec with a plethora of memes and iokes about the incident, which became known as Piggate'. Although there had been a move towards iovial talk of politics on social media prior to this, the episode seemed to distil the practice and precipitate a new era of near- constant humorous online reaction to political events. Considering this context, this book assesses how memetic practices have shaped political communication and culture in the past decade-plus, and the consequences thereof. It does so from four perspectives, encompassing a focus or ordinary citizens, a group of online activists a key social media satirist and, finally, focusing on how elites have deployed these practices

"This landmark book is the first to fully explain how memes have become a critical part of UK politics. Through rich and convincing empirical analysis, Southern reveals how digital humour is transforming citizen participation, elite communication, and the very nature of political discourse. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the evolution of digital political culture and its profound impact on democracy." - James Dennis, Researcher at Lusófona University, Portuga "From 'shitposts' to 'Karen memes', political communication is changing and Rosalynd Southern is a lively guide to the pithy worlo of memes. A cutting-edge study that deserves to be read. - Stephen Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds UK

Auspicious day to post this so here it is!

'Memes and politics in the UK: from piggate to partygate and beyond' is out now!

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

I loved writing this and I hope you'll all love reading it. Check out the cover, description and endorsements here! 📖 Buy it!! 😅

Fellow UK politics politics nerds, you're going to want to read this incredibly important book by the brilliant @rosalynd.bsky.social tracing how memes became a fundamemtal part of mainstream political communication for citizens and politicians alike!

Issue 103 of Grey Room has just been released and features an article by Jamie Jelinski entitled “Face the Fax: Bureaucracy and the Unrealized Potential of Wirephoto at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”

CCEL member Jamie Jelinski presenting his paper, “Bones Under Black Boxes: Quebec’s Suppression of Photographs of a Century-Old Skull”, at Darkness: A Photography Conference organized by the School of Digital Arts at @manmetuni.bsky.social

@michellehenning.bsky.social presenting her paper, “It was a Dark and Stormy Night: Photography and ‘Darkness’”, at Darkness: A Photography Conference organized the School of Digital Arts at @manmetuni.bsky.social

@discodiscourse.bsky.social just published an analysis of a short story by a U.S. neo-Nazi organisation in Language in Society www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Beyond the manosphere: a panel discussion exploring the wider phenomenon of male-centred online communities The manosphere is a loose network of anti-feminist and more broadly reactionary male-centred online spaces, influencers and communities. A range of scholars, activists, practitioners and policy mak...

New article co-authored by @craighaslop.bsky.social (among many others) in Journal of Gender Studies!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Our SOTA300: Work Placement Experience students have been busy the last few months working at a number of organizations in the Merseyside region. Today they had an opportunity to discuss their placements at the Presentation Showcase.

CCEL members @michellehenning.bsky.social and Jamie Jelinski will be in Manchester this week presenting at Darkness: A Photography Conference organized the School of Digital Arts at @manmetuni.bsky.social www.schoolofdigitalarts.mmu.ac.uk/events/darkn...

@rosalynd.bsky.social just published her book, Memes and Politics in the UK: From Piggage to Partygate and Beyond! 👏 link.springer.com/book/9783032...

Bias in GenAI: Exploring cultural variations between large language models Ethical integration of generative AI (GenAI) in education demands urgent attention to addressing bias embedded in its content. Whilst considerable res…

New publication by our Head of Department, Professor Kay L. O’Halloran, together with Yiqiong Zhang and Lynda Tan in Linguistics and Education

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Handbook of Journalism and Emotion <p><b>A groundbreaking global exploration of how emotions shape journalism</b> <p>Emotion is no longer peripheral to journalism&mdash;it is central to how news is made, shared, and experienced. The<i...

Dr Antje Glück has a forthcoming essay, “Emotions and the Challenges of a Post-Truth Era: A Comparison of British and Indian TV Newsrooms,” in the new edited collection The Handbook of Journalism and Emotion. The book will be out in March!

www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Ha...

Talk: Michelle Henning on Photography's Dirty History Rethink photography as a ma

@michellehenning.bsky.social is giving a talk as part of her book launch at The Photographers Gallery on March 26 in London! More info at the link below. thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/tal...

@richardstupart.com has a chapter (co-authored with Johana Kotišová), “ Feeling as Knowing: Emotion and Epistemology in Journalism Studies”, in the forthcoming The Handbook of Journalism and Emotion

Talk: Michelle Henning on Photography's Dirty History Rethink photography as a ma

I have a few book launches/ talks coming up:
26 March, London The Photographers'​ Gallery - talk, thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/tal...
28 April, Liverpool, Open Eye Gallery - in conversation with Prof. Sarah E. James. openeye.org.uk/whatson/book...
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Volunteers needed for decision making study. You’ll be in a group making a decision together. Come to Abercromby Square, or join online, for 45 minutes in April/May. You’ll get a £10 voucher for your time. Must be over 18 with good English language proficiency. Complete the form to receive invite.

Through the Aperture of the Parochial: Embodied Videography and Everyday (Circum)ambulation One of the legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic is a reorientation towards the parochial as an everyday space of intimacy and affective hyperlocality. Robert Macfarlane observes how the parochial, stripp...

Dr. Les Roberts has a new chapter, “Through the Aperture of the Parochial: Embodied Videography and Everyday (Circum)ambulation,” in the recent edited collection Geography’s Media Turn!

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

National Student Survey Join the 5.3 million students who have shared their views and helped to inspire change in universities and colleges since the survey was launched in 2005.

Y3 students, please complete the National Student Survey!

www.thestudentsurvey.com?fbclid=PAZnR...

Dr. Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova just published a co-authored article with Dr. Dariya Orlova entitled “Between Precarity and the War: Journalists’ Safety in Ukraine” in the Ukrainian Analytical Digest

css.ethz.ch/content/dam/...

Franziska Mertl, a recent Bachelor’s graduate in Communications and Busness studies, is profiled in the newest issue of PSA News!

Great to see it out. I'm very happy to have two chapters in this collection, one an interview and the other co-authored with Tommaso Milani

The “Online Early” version of Jamie Jelinski’s article “Face the Fax: Bureaucracy and the Unrealized Potential of Wirephoto at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police” has just been published by Grey Room. It will be included in the journal’s Spring 2026 issue (no. 103)!

direct.mit.edu/grey/article...