Dr. Bianca Fox | Nottingham Trent University (original) (raw)

Chapters in Books by Dr. Bianca Fox

Food, Nutrition and the Media , 2020

Drawing on a cluster of theories on the effects of social media on body image and eating disorder... more Drawing on a cluster of theories on the effects of social media on body image and eating disorders and the social repercussions of Internet use, this chapter examines the link between the use of social networking sites (SNSs) and loneliness, poor body image and disordered eating in young British people (aged 18–24). The chapter starts with an exploration of the link between loneliness, poor body image, eating disorders and social media use through a brief review of the existing theoretical frameworks and then progresses to examine young adults’ stories of loneliness through a qualitative approach, connecting these three conditions with the excessive and unchallenged use of SNSs. The results show that daily exposure to food images, thin bodies and unattainable lifestyles and fitness regimes on SNSs leads to self-comparison and pressure to conform to a distorted perception of the norm. One’s inability to conform to this norm often results in increased loneliness, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating (progressing in some cases to eating disorders), followed by periods of digital detox. Building on this and other findings, this chapter argues for an extension of Rodgers’ (2016: 131) integrated theoretical model to include loneliness with a dual effect—as a predictor for social media use and as an aggravating factor for those at risk of developing an eating disorder. Loneliness, therefore, was found to mediate the association between excessive SNS use, body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders.

Emotions and Loneliness in a Networked Society , 2019

This chapter advances our understanding of the relationship between loneliness and social networking websites (SNSs) use and aims to put an end to the debate regarding whether or not SNS use is making young adults lonelier. This is the first research in the UK that analyses and compares the way different SNSs (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) can increase or decrease loneliness in young adults.

Food, Nutrition and the Media, 2020

Starting from Renwick and Powell (2019, 24) who state that food literacy definitions place “an ov... more Starting from Renwick and Powell (2019, 24) who state that food literacy definitions place “an overwhelming emphasis on food, with far less attention on literacy”, this chapter aims to identify types of literacy frequently included in these definitions in an attempt to provide conceptual clarification on what literacy skills are included and what literacy skills are still missing from food literacy definitions.

Migration and Crime: Realities and Media Representations, 2018

This chapter explores the most discussed immigration-related topics in the news media during the ... more This chapter explores the most discussed immigration-related topics in the news media during the EU referendum campaign in the UK (April- June 2016) and after (July- September 2016) and identifies a pattern of covering immigration topics during and after the EU referendum. The chapter argues that attitudes anti- EU immigration are a wave of ‘new(s)’ racism (van Dijk, 2000) in the UK and EU immigration is frequently used as an umbrella term for Eastern European immigration being often mixed with non-EU immigration and the Refugee crisis. The results both replicate and extend the findings of earlier work showing how news media have shaped people’s attitudes during the EU referendum leading to general hostility to immigration.

This chapter investigates the use of web-based technologies for seeking health information and pe... more This chapter investigates the use of web-based technologies for seeking health information and personal health information management in the UK. The research investigates whether people’s eHealth literacy is important for developing and enhancing online searching strategies for health information. This chapter is based on and continues the work of Lustria, Smith and Hinnant (2011) who analyse the search of health information online in the US. Furthermore, the study applies Neter and Brainin’s (2012) theory to measure people’s level of eHealth literacy and tests McClung et al. (1998) and Kiley’s (2002) theories, according to which health information on the Internet may at times be misleading or misinterpreted, compromising health behaviours and health outcomes, or resulting in inappropriate requests for clinical interventions. By employing a large survey, this chapter provides answers to questions like: What sources do people consult first in search for health information? Is the online health information affecting people’s health decisions? Do people consider the online health information reliable? How often do people use eHealth tools like emails, online test results, or online medical appointments? Interesting and valuable results emerge. The results report on current trends in web use for health information and reveal interesting patterns in technology adoption and the need to explore further and find solutions to overcome the differences in the use of eHealth technologies in the UK.

The Internet has opened up many opportunities for publishers, editors and amateur writers through... more The Internet has opened up many opportunities for publishers, editors and amateur writers through its capacity of creating communities. The online literary communities empower the amateurs as writers. This article aims to evaluate the Romanian online fiction websites and to provide insights into the ways of constructing amateur fiction online. The present study also aims to offer a large perspective on an emergent phenomenon, that of the expansion of the Romanian literary online communities and the practices used by these communities to engage the people in their activities. The article introduces a new topic among scholars and could become subject to wider debates at national and global level.

Edited Books by Dr. Bianca Fox

In an era of enhanced social interconnectivity, loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression are... more In an era of enhanced social interconnectivity, loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression are on the rise. This volume questions the adequacy of our social relations and addresses emotions and loneliness in relation to social media use, documenting specific ways of looking at loneliness (seen both as a positive and negative emotion) in the digital era.

Media Events: A Critical Contemporary Approach proposes an interdisciplinary and multicultural ap... more Media Events: A Critical Contemporary Approach proposes an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach of Dayan and Katz's theory of media events (1992) by applying it to contemporary situations. The contributing authors come from a range of countries (UK, USA, Mexico, Germany, Finland, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine) and analyse the theory of media events from different perspectives, incorporating social media and offering a re-positioning of Dayan and Katz's theory of media events. By bringing new perspectives into this field, the proposed volume is an important contribution as it grounds the intervention and rethinking of the theory into further empirical research. This volume has the potential to function as a 'cross-generational' link between one of the 'early classics' of media and communication studies on the one hand and the present generation of researchers on the other.

Routledge, Abingdon, 2022

This truly interdisciplinary volume brings together a diverse group of scholars to explore change... more This truly interdisciplinary volume brings together a diverse group of scholars to explore changes in the significance of media and communication in the era of pandemic. The book answers two interrelated questions: how media and communication reality changed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how media and communication were effectively studied during this time.

The book presents changes in media and communication in three areas: media production, media content, and media usage contexts. It then describes the theoretical and practical, methodological, technical, organizational, and ethical challenges in conducting research in circumstances of sudden change in research conditions, emergency situations and developing crises. Drawing on various theoretical studies and empirical research, the volume illustrates the principles and results of applying diverse research methods to the changing role of media in a pandemic and offers good practices and guidance to address the problems in implementing research projects in a time of sudden difficulties and challenges.

This diverse and interdisciplinary book will be of significance to scholars and researchers in media studies, communication studies, research methods, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies.

Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003232049-5/ecological-approach-fausto-colombo?context=ubx&refId=aa5bc500-bb40-4ccb-879b-d5c8562efa67

Migration and crime. Realities and media representations, 2018

This book proposes an interdisciplinary, multicultural and contemporary approach to examining the... more This book proposes an interdisciplinary, multicultural and contemporary approach to examining the controversial links between migration and crime. It includes empirical research on migrants and crime to explore the risk and realities of crime and migration, as well as how mass media in different regions of the world has covered violent acts that have involved migrants (as victims or aggressors). The chapters are written by authors from various countries including the UK, Turkey, Slovenia, Iraq, Albania, Chile, the Republic of Moldavia, and Romania, and from different fields of research including: criminology, sociology, political sciences and communication. They bring to light new ideas, new methodologies and results that could be taken and developed further. This volume allows readers to explore the impact of migration on crime.

The present volume offers a contemporary, multicultural approach to the controversial relationshi... more The present volume offers a contemporary, multicultural approach to the controversial relationship between politics, media and society. The contributors here analyse such links from a variety of different perspectives, and represent perspectives from various countries across Europe, Asia, North America and South America. Despite their geographical diversity, they manage to reach a common language in their studies, offering a re-positioning of the study of media, society and politics.
The new perspectives offered by this volume will be of interest to any media studies scholar, because they bring to light new ideas, new methodologies and results that could be further developed. It allows readers to explore these unique insights, and to easily digest the content and acknowledge the impact of media on society and politics.

Analyzing the relationship between medicine and the media from different perspectives, these new ... more Analyzing the relationship between medicine and the media from different perspectives, these new collection of essays fill a gap in this emerging field, providing new information on approaches to health communication and important reevaluations of health literacy theories.
The contributors discuss ideas and methodologies across a range of topics, including multifaceted health communication, media coverage of maternal health, the rhetoric of diagnosis in autoimmune illness, media representation of the sick in data-driven healthcare, and health news coverage in print media.

Analyzing the relationship between medicine and the media from different perspectives, these new ... more Analyzing the relationship between medicine and the media from different perspectives,
these new essays fill a gap in this emerging field, providing new information on approaches
to health communication and important reevaluations of health literacy theories.
The contributors discuss ideas and methodologies across a range of topics, including
multifaceted health communication, media coverage of maternal health, the rhetoric of
diagnosis in autoimmune illness, media representation of the sick in data-driven healthcare,
and health news coverage in print media.

Contemporary Television Series: Narrative Structures and Audience Perception proposes an interdis... more Contemporary Television Series: Narrative Structures and Audience Perception proposes an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach of old concepts like fiction, reality and narrativity applied to actual worldwide television series. The authors that have contributed to this volume analyze the almost invisible barriers between fiction and reality in television series from different perspectives. The results of their studies are extremely interesting and revealing. The new perspectives offered by this volume will be of great interest to any scholar of European and international studies, because they bring to light new ideas, new methodologies and results that could be further developed. This volume allows readers to explore these unique insights, even if they are not senior researchers, and to easily digest the content, and also to acknowledge the impact of the viewing of television series on reality and on their own lives.

Articles by Dr. Bianca Fox

Sustainability , 2021

Decades of medical research have focused on analysing the effects of sustainable eating on health... more Decades of medical research have focused on analysing the effects of sustainable eating on health and well-being; yet, less attention has been devoted to this subject in communication and media studies research. Recently, however, scholarly attention has shifted towards the way sustainable food is covered in the media. Nevertheless, previous studies analyse sustainable food together with other sustainability challenges, such as climate change. In this article, we focus our attention on analysing media reporting of sustainable food. Relying theoretically on the framing analysis approach coupled with Goody’s five-phase analytical framework in building sustainable food-related behaviours (production, distribution, preparation, consumption and disposal) and by applying the rationale of content analysis, this article examines media coverage of sustainable food with a focus on sustainable food production, distribution, preparation, consumption and disposal. Therefore, the article identifies trends and patterns of media coverage of sustainable food in Romania between 2014 and 2017. Interesting results emerge, showing that Romanian journalists reporting on food-related topics do not have a solid understanding of the field and contribute to the spread of inaccurate information often, resulting from insufficient research or inadequate use of sources. As a result of the lack of in-depth knowledge of those involved in writing about food, the media coverage of sustainable food is strictly reduced to reporting on aspects related to the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, framed as the only healthy foods, and recommended diets for specific underlying health conditions (such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and associated diseases).

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Social Cohesion and Development , 2021

The mediatization of politics could challenge established political processes and has the power t... more The mediatization of politics could challenge established political processes and has the power to transform the relation between political parties and candidates, on the one hand, and voters, on the other. Mass media effects on political processes have been for a long time the focus of interest for academics. This article analyses the content of electoral materials used during two European Parlia- ment election campaigns (2014 and 2019) focusing in particular on the coverage of val- ues related to national identity. Interestingly, the quantitative analysis showed that the im- portance placed on issues related to national identity depended largely on the time when a particular country became a member of the European Union and differed considerably be- tween countries located in different parts of Europe.

International Journal of Digital Television, Mar 12, 2016

This article will examine how a public service broadcaster, specifically the BBC, delivers news c... more This article will examine how a public service broadcaster, specifically the BBC, delivers news content to its audience across multiple media platforms. Rather than looking at how the audience responds to media texts, this article will take the opposite standpoint by addressing the following question: How does the BBC build its audience on a platform-by-platform basis? To answer this key question we compared news outputs on the three platforms offered by the BBC: web, television and radio. A sample was compiled based on the top stories that appeared at a specific time of day over a month in early 2015. The results suggest that there is no significant difference in establishing news agendas through a digitally converged media landscape. In fact the three platforms analysed do not take media convergence into account when delivering news content.

The increasing use of the internet has brought new challenges for the public service television s... more The increasing use of the internet has brought new challenges for the public service television system all around the world. Despite the free access to information and the use of digital technology, the Eastern European public service television is still in a shading cone mostly because of the small scale of their broadcasting markets. This article tells the story of the Romanian public service television’s (TVR) path towards an uncertain future in the digital age. The article offers an overview of the major changes and challenges of TVR (in terms of remit, purpose, values, and objectives) since the fall of the Communist regime in 1989 and aims to address the following questions: Is public service television still relevant in the digital era? What are the present challenges and what is the future of the Romanian public service television in the digital era?

Food, Nutrition and the Media , 2020

Emotions and Loneliness in a Networked Society , 2019

Food, Nutrition and the Media, 2020

Migration and Crime: Realities and Media Representations, 2018

Routledge, Abingdon, 2022

This diverse and interdisciplinary book will be of significance to scholars and researchers in media studies, communication studies, research methods, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies.

Migration and crime. Realities and media representations, 2018

Analyzing the relationship between medicine and the media from different perspectives, these new ... more Analyzing the relationship between medicine and the media from different perspectives,
these new essays fill a gap in this emerging field, providing new information on approaches
to health communication and important reevaluations of health literacy theories.
The contributors discuss ideas and methodologies across a range of topics, including
multifaceted health communication, media coverage of maternal health, the rhetoric of
diagnosis in autoimmune illness, media representation of the sick in data-driven healthcare,
and health news coverage in print media.

Sustainability , 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Social Cohesion and Development , 2021

International Journal of Digital Television, Mar 12, 2016

Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy

The focus of this study is to analyze consumer’s participation and communication in the online br... more The focus of this study is to analyze consumer’s participation and communication in the online brand communities on Facebook. This type of brand community represents a subgroup of virtual communities, which is known as communities of consumption or fan clubs (Kozinets 1999, Szmigin et al. 2005). Understanding consumer relationships in such communities is important for the success of both the brand and the community. The aim of our study is to investigate how and in what sense consumers participate and communicate with one another via online brand communities, so as to explore the nature of the consumer’s participation on brand pages on Facebook. Also, we aim to investigate the importance of the Facebook fan page as a tool for a company’s business strategy. n order to investigate all these different aspects, a quantitative audience research was conducted, using a structured questionnaire.

Lately in Romania the crisis has become a kind of apocalypse for any domain, from economy to cult... more Lately in Romania the crisis has become a kind of apocalypse for any domain, from economy to culture. Also the crisis has become a kind of excuse for everything we cannot do. We got used to the answer “that is impossible, we are in a crisis”. This article will review some of the definitions of crisis and the connection between communication theory, crisis and the public sphere. Also the article aims to provide a comprehensive content analysis of Romanian media coverage of economic crisis and some of the Romanian crisis scenarios between August-October 2012.

The TV entertainment is the primary means of humor for the modern society, the cheapest, most ver... more The TV entertainment is the primary means of humor for the modern society, the cheapest, most versatile, most comfortable and most affordable. The show is interwoven in the fabric of everyday life, dominating leisure time, shaping people’s political opinions and social behaviors. Lately both politicians and scholars complain about the political apathy as the political participation has declined in many democratic countries. The aim of this study is to analyze the relation between political entertainment and young citizens’ political engagement. The relationship between entertainment and politics or entertainment and citizenship is a quite young subject among media scholars (van Zoonen, 2005; Dahlgren, 2009). The questions that guide this study are: does entertainment have an impact on democracy, does it provide a context that leads to political engagement or disengagement of the Romanian young citizens?

Social memory is considered very important for the future development of a nation. It is very imp... more Social memory is considered very important for the future development of a nation. It is very important that young citizens perceive the past social actions in an accurate manner that will allow them to develop as citizens and to create forms of contributing to the development of a new democracy. The remembrance of past actions is not important for the past, but important the present or future actions. The main objective of this article is to answer to the following questions: How are social memory and social media related and what do they mean for the students/future citizens? How can the teachers use social media in order to shape young students as active citizens that will create a new democracy?

Citizenship education is considered very important for the future development of any nation. It i... more Citizenship education is considered very important for the future development of any nation. It is very important that young citizens perceive the past social actions in an accurate manner that will allow them to develop as citizens and to create forms of contributing to the development of a new democracy. The following study intends to focus on the importance of citizenship education in Romania and to examine whether the Romanian young people are provided with the civic knowledge and understanding necessary to engage effectively as citizens in a democracy. The main objectives of this chapter are: to explore the concept of citizenship education and to detect how social network websites can be used as a tool for citizenship education.

Mihăilă, Ramona, Oktapoda, Efstratia, Honicker, Nancy (eds.), Gender Studies in the Age of Globalization, Bucureşti, ISBN 978-1-935494-40-9. , 2011

Today the political show focuses on political stars. Media has an enormous influence on the audie... more Today the political show focuses on political stars. Media has an enormous influence on the audience and holds a great responsibility for the education of the people, for the expansion and evolution of democracy in post-communist countries. Television’s freedom, truth and accuracy, impartiality and fair play are put forward as the guidelines that ensure a functioning democratic role. This article is based on a textual analysis of the Romanian television and the implication of the partiipation of women in politics in post-communist Romania. The paper aims to answer to the following questions: Are women really involved in today’s political life? How are the women politician seen by the Romanian media?

The purpose of this study is to analyze how spectacle and conflict converge in today’s television... more The purpose of this study is to analyze how spectacle and conflict converge in today’s television news. We focused on the complex reconstructive and subjective nature of news reception, the different ways the audience constructs meaningful interpretations from the news, exposure to news and the construction of images of reality.

This article focuses on social movements and their interaction with the public sphere. The articl... more This article focuses on social movements and their interaction with the public sphere. The article specifically analyses strategies of social movement, strategies of a good leader, the relation media and social movements and the role of social movement in the formation of an “alternative” public sphere. The public sphere is a communal space dominated by discussions that involve the politics, discussions that debate the problems of the society. In Habermas model of deliberative democracy, however, people participate as discrete, autunomous subjects who know their own intentions, desires, and preferences and set out to realize them by batering with others. The porous borders of politics are manifested today in the relationship of social movements and their leaders to the public sphere. Even in liberal democracies with established civil societies the social movements have broadened the agenda of public discussion. Therefore, we analyzed the construction of social movements and their leaders as an important element that can enliven the public sphere and can contribute to the construction of an alternative public sphere.

Globalization is an issue extensively discussed in recent years, many researchers bringing out al... more Globalization is an issue extensively discussed in recent years, many researchers bringing out all the harmful effects this phenomenon can have - especially the danger of cultural uniformity. In a provocative rethinking of television and its ensuring effects this scientific approach argues that is possible that we have misunderstood television and have thus contributed to a distorted view of art and culture in the 20th century. Television has become a scapegoat for all sorts of societal and cultural ills. This paper aims to find an answer to a few issues: Is culture a priority for television? What is the impact of television on the Romanian cultural products and what are the possible consequences of globalization?

http://meldeproject.eu, 2020

The MeLDE framework for teacher digital preparation includes four main knowledge pillars and 17 s... more The MeLDE framework for teacher digital preparation includes four main knowledge pillars and 17 skills and competences areas is different than any other existing framework for teacher education (e.g. NCCA ICT framework, 2007; UNESCO ICT-CFT, 2011; Danish Pedagogic ICT licence, in Ferrari, 2012) by focusing more on the acquisition of practical skills and including up-to-date topics, such as: social media and classroom collaboration platforms, fake news, managing digital identity, cyberbullying, creating compelling digital content for educational purposes, distance learning, self-promotion, and digital citizenship. The framework can be used in teacher education as a reference tool and can be used in flexible ways.

http://meldeproject.eu/io1/, 2019

This report is part of Intellectual Output 1 of the MELDE project and offers an overview of teach... more This report is part of Intellectual Output 1 of the MELDE project and offers an overview of teachers’ digital skills and the digital technologies used in teaching based on a detailed examination of research conducted in four countries: Germany, Greece, Cyprus and the UK. The report reveals the state of research in the partner countries, it reviews digital literacy initiatives, sheds light on the current levels of digital literacy and highlights common problems that teachers and students are facing in each of the partner countries. The aim of this comparative report is to outline existing digital cross-generational skills gaps in European secondary schools that will inform a cross-national framework and an educational pack designed to better prepare aspiring teachers, and support and encourage all teachers to use digital technologies in teaching to better communicate and educate new generations of pupils.

http://meldeproject.eu/io1/, 2019

The report presents a realistic image of the level of digital literacy of secondary school teache... more The report presents a realistic image of the level of digital literacy of secondary school teachers and pupils, explores digital training opportunities and the use of digital technology in secondary schools and advocates the introduction of digital training as a mandatory element of teacher education.
This report is structured in 4 sections, followed by a bibliography. The first section provides a snapshot of digital literacy research and initiatives in the UK and explores the current state of teacher and student education, the second section explains the methodological approach, section 3 provides a detailed analysis of the data collected in the UK and section 4 discusses implications for practice, limitations of the present study and presents our recommendations for further research.

Watch here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0E3HnoNVpg&t=26s.

This video is a step-by-step guide on how to use Google Jamboard, Padlet, Mindmeister or EdPuzzle... more This video is a step-by-step guide on how to use Google Jamboard, Padlet, Mindmeister or EdPuzzle in teaching. Watch this presentation on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzzlF7ro1A&t=411s

Watch this presentation on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB9Rc- gzvOw&t=90s

Watch this presentation on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVMmfLGycZk&t=1s

http://www.electionsmonitoringcenter.eu, 2019

The EU election campaign in Romania took place in the midst of a political dispute between the Pr... more The EU election campaign in Romania took place in the midst of a political dispute between the President and the opposition over the Referendum for Justice. As a result, the EU election campaign was polarised into two contrasting campaign approaches: anti-corruption and anti-system, meaning anti-PSD and pro-European. The 2019 EU electoral campaign started 30 days before April 25th and ended on Saturday, May 25th at 7pm. All Romanian citizens 18 years of age and over were eligible to vote. The entire territory of Romania constituted one single electoral constituency. The 2019 elections for the European Parliament were held simultaneously with the Referendum on Justice-related matters called by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, following numerous previous amendments to criminal law, particularly to the anti-corruption law. The media coverage of the EU election campaign by both public and private broadcasters is normally governed by multiple laws and regulations imposed mainly by The Audiovisual Council, which is the national authority in charge of monitoring broadcasters' compliance with laws and regulations. The public radio and TV broadcasters assure media coverage of all the candidates free of charge. In contrast, commercial radio and TV broadcasters charge a xed fee for media coverage but during the EU election campaign they are constrained to charging the same rate per show or per unit of time for all parties and other entities entitled to participate in the elections and the airtime offered to candidates must be proportionate to that offered by public service broadcasters. Placing electoral advertising spots in other programmes than the electoral ones is strictly forbidden. Electoral advertising during the 2019 EU election campaign was very strict. Electoral posters displayed on approved panels had to be 500mm length and 300mm wide and posters announcing an electoral group meeting had to be 400mm length and 250mm wide. Electoral posters that combined colours in a succession that reproduces the Romanian national ag or another state's ag were forbidden. After the end of the electoral campaign, it was forbidden to broadcast electoral messages in audio, visual or mixed form on digital screens located in public or private areas, as well as disseminating any electoral messages by means of specially arranged vehicles placed in popular public spaces in the city. Notes on the election campaign The EU elections campaign 2019 in Romania was for the rst time a campaign focused more on internal political issues than EU issues, a campaign dominated by internal political con icts, political protests, anger and desire of revenge and public attacks against other internal candidates. It was more visible that the politicians used this campaign as a platform for internal political battles rather than for discussing Romania's place and future in the European Union. There were a few pale efforts to explain why the EU membership is good for the country and its citizens and there were no anti-EU messages in this electoral campaign, the EU being mostly praised for opening up new opportunities of development. Moreover, it was for the rst time in history when big names that dominated the internal political landscape for years, like the former president of Romania, Traian Basescu (who's daughter, Elena Basescu, was also an MEP between 2009 and 2014), former prime minister Victor Ponta, former prime minister Dacian Ciolos, amongst others, returned to the political stage as candidates for the European Parliament. The internal political con icts dominated the EU election campaign of 2019 in Romania. The desire to promote their own political agenda and to convince the electorate that the others are corrupt prevails, hence the increased focus on mostly national issues.

Transnational Screens, 2021

The rapid uptake of mobile technology worldwide (see Kemp 2020) has led to an unprece- dented num... more The rapid uptake of mobile technology worldwide (see Kemp 2020) has led to an unprece- dented number of households owning and using a multitude of screen devices, both conven- tional (radio, television) and new (laptops, smartphones or tablets) to access media content. Being brought up in a media saturated society, children too have become accustomed to using multiple screens for a numerous activites, at home and at school. While it is true that some television programmes are still preferred by children, it also true that children's viewing habits are increasingly changing, with children largely watching and accessing media content on mobile devices (Ofcom 2019). As children’s media and viewing practices are changing, a burgeoning interest in understanding the practice of producing content that reaches younger audiences has emerged.

Conference presentation at the EuroSoTL Conference, 16th-17th June 2022, Manchester Metropolitan ... more Conference presentation at the EuroSoTL Conference, 16th-17th June 2022, Manchester Metropolitan University

Conference Presentation @ the International Conference Transformation of Newsroom with the advent... more Conference Presentation @ the International Conference Transformation of Newsroom with the advent of AI, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague
May 13th 2021

Presentation @ the Research-policy dialogue on ‘Loneliness in Europe’ Organised by the European ... more Presentation @ the Research-policy dialogue on ‘Loneliness in Europe’
Organised by the European Commission Joint Research Centre
2 March 2021 – 9:30-11:30 Brussels

Conference presentation @ the SRHE Conference, December 2021 Higher Education in the UK, and par... more Conference presentation @ the SRHE Conference, December 2021

Higher Education in the UK, and particularly in England, is in a state of flux due to the rapid shifts in how education is provided driven by the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper provides a reflective account of how a new Academic Practice course team have made decisions, supported participants, and responded to the challenges of introducing a new Academic Practice course in a time of uncertainty during the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper offers commentary on shifts in building resilience during such times impacts on academic identity formulation for both students (who are also academic members of staff) and the course team, here there is a complex interplay of hybrid identities. The paper further aims to stimulate reflection upon curriculum design, moving away from a modular towards a more flexible curriculum.

Conference Presentation @ TILT Annual Teaching & Learning Conference September 2021

Presentation @ the UVAC monthly event November 2021

Conference presentation @ the International Conference Homicide Interdisciplinary Perspectives, B... more Conference presentation @ the International Conference Homicide Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Bucharest, November 2021

Conference presentation @ the International Conference Homicide and Genocide: Interdisciplinary P... more Conference presentation @ the International Conference Homicide and Genocide: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Lethal Violence, Institute of Sociology, Romanian Academy
July 23rd 2020

Conference presentation @ the Mediaflows Conference 2019 European Elections 2019: Populism & Euro... more Conference presentation @ the Mediaflows Conference 2019 European Elections 2019: Populism & Euroscepticism
UIMP Valencia
20-22nd November 2019

The presentation talks about a study that focused on two main questions: How is Europe and the EU represented in the political posters used in the 2019 European election campaign? and What is the role of electoral posters in informing young people corectly about the EU and in increasing/decreasing young people’s levels of Euro-scepticism?

Conference presentation 2019

Poster presentation @ the SRHE Conference December 2019

Conference presentation @ CADAAD 2018

Mobile phones are not seen today as just communication devices, they are small computers that are... more Mobile phones are not seen today as just communication devices, they are small computers that are handy, always with us, and always on. Ubiquitous tools that we use anytime and anywhere, smartphones have quickly become instruments for fast communication, entertainment, and collective participation. Given their increasing functionalities, smartphones have started to be employed in a variety of ways to aid researchers' data collection efforts around the world.

Smartphones offer exciting opportunities to collect data from respondents with less effort than using the traditional more conventional research methods like pen and paper survey. Collecting data with smartphones is becoming a common practice among scholars and is highly promising as both the quality and quantity of the resulting data is impressive.

This paper discusses ways of collecting data using iPhones and Androids. We provide suggestions on mobile applications, sampling and selecting respondents and also on how to deal with privacy issues. The paper will present a variety of smartphone apps for research and will compare this method of collecting data with the traditional research methods. Moreover, the paper also identifies the risks and challenges of using smartphones in collecting data and also the ethical and methodological issues involved as we identified them while working on two multi-method research projects with students from the University of Huddersfield and University of Wolverhampton.

Every nation has its frozen moments, events so important, so tragic and to some extent so persona... more Every nation has its frozen moments, events so important, so tragic and to some extent so personal that they remain forever in the public memory. Memorializing practices that follow major tragic events usually provide a transformational experience for the survivors and for the society as a whole. In the wake of events such as the 7/7 London bombings when 52 people were killed and over 700 people were injured there has been a widespread grief not only for the deceased but also for a sense of national security and identity (Linenthal, 2001; Siegl & Foot, 2004). Since 2005 every year acts of public grief have provided opportunities to celebrate the lives of those who died, to mourn their passing, and through that inscribe memories of the deceased in the public consciousness (Foot & Warnick, 2006: 72). Eleven years have passed since the 7/7 London bombings. It is perhaps time to ask ourselves: has the media done enough to keep this tragic event alive in the public memory? How do young people remember the 7/7 London bombings? and What is their understanding of what happened in London on July 7th 2005?

Based on Foot & Warnick’s (2006) analysis of web-based memorializing, this study aims to analyse young people’s right to remember using emerging social practices mediated by the computer. We will analyse web-based commemoration practices through which spaces of commemoration of the 7/7 London terrorist attacks are produced juxtaposed with Twitter feeds and a questionnaire that aims to find out how young people (aged 18-21) remember the event. As memory is “a retroactive reconstruction of the past” (Kasabova, 2008: 332), we aim to find out how these web-based remembering practices contribute to the memory construction and preservation of social memory of young people and through what means.

Memorializing practices that follow major tragic events usually provide a transformational experi... more Memorializing practices that follow major tragic events usually provide a transformational experience for the survivors and for the society as a whole. In the wake of events such as the 7/7 London bombings when 52 people were killed and over 700 people were injured there has been a widespread grief not only for the deceased but also for a sense of national security and identity (Linenthal, 2001; Siegl & Foot, 2004). Since 2005 every year acts of public grief have provided opportunities to celebrate the lives of those who died, to mourn their passing, and through that inscribe memories of the deceased in the public consciousness (Foot & Warnick, 2006: 72). Ten years have passed since the 7/7 London bombings. It is perhaps time to ask ourselves: has the media done enough to keep this tragic event alive in the public memory? How do young people remember the 7/7 London bombings? and What is their understanding of what happened in London on July 7th, 2005?
Based on Foot & Warnick’s (2006) analysis of web-based memorializing, this study aims to analyze emerging social practices mediated by computer through which spaces of commemoration of the 7/7 London terrorist attacks are produced. According to Gloviczki (2015), in the process of memorialization the aspects that must be selected usually consist of three categories: form, content, and context, out of which the form of memorialization is perhaps the most important aspect because this determines the material of which the memorial will consist. The present study provides a comprehensive content analysis of three websites that commemorate the 7/7 London bombings this year (the BBC News website, The Guardian and The Daily Mail) juxtaposed with Twitter feeds and a questionnaire that aims to find out how young people (aged 18-21) remember the event. As memory is “a retroactive reconstruction of the past” (Kasabova, 2008: 332), we aim to find out how these websites contribute to the memory construction and preservation of social memory of young people and through what means.

Teaching with Lego in Higher Education is many times seen as a controversial method, carrying tro... more Teaching with Lego in Higher Education is many times seen as a controversial method, carrying troublesome implications for lecturers who sometimes face questions like: Is this serious? Is it useful for students? Can students really learn by playing with Lego? After all, they are not children anymore. Isn’t this too easy for students? What is often disregarded is the fact that Lego play can be used as a student engagement tool and, if used right, helps students understand difficult concepts in a very positive, provoking and interactive way. Scholars believe that Lego is a “tool for thinking” (Gauntlett 2007) with a great potential to link theory to practice, bridging the gap between thinking and doing in education (Cavaliero 2015). Even so lecturers are still reticent in using Lego play in their lectures.
This session will explore the potential of using Lego as a tool for reflective practice with journalism students at the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Huddersfield. The paper will explore multiple ways of using Lego in lectures and will show evidence of the Lego play efficacy, value and impact on learning in Higher Education. Furthermore, this study will highlight the advantages and opportunities created in class by Lego play to: activate students, aid reflection, link theory to practice, connect with peers, teamwork, inclusion, engagement and interactivity. However, this session will also discuss some of the challenges and possible risks that lecturers face when using Lego play with 1st students as I identified them in my sessions with Broadcast Journalism students and Media and Communication students this academic year at the University of Wolverhampton and University of Huddersfield.

Mobile phones are not seen today as just communication devices, they are small computers that are... more Mobile phones are not seen today as just communication devices, they are small computers that are handy, always with us, and always on. For our ‘digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001) students, mobile phones are ubiquitous tools that they use with pleasure anytime and anywhere. Scholars often draw attention on the fact that it is perhaps the first time in history when the students are better at using mobile technologies than their teachers. For instance, Kirschner & Selinger (2003) argue that many students are today adept in using new technologies and sharing information, while Swan, Kratcoski and van’t Hooft (2007: 48) assert that “the ‘digital natives’ generation was brought up with this technology, and their teachers either struggle to keep up or just give up in the race to understand and use the latest technology”.
Starting from Brenton (2009: 85)’s question: “how can we, in the formal, guided process of higher education, use the power and potential of recent electronic media to enable our students to learn better, from us, from each other and independently?”, this session will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using smartphones in teaching Journalism for both lecturers and students and will focus on the challenges brought by the use of Socrative2.0 and other student response systems into teaching journalism as a tool to support students’ participation and promote an active and innovative learning environment.
Bridging the gap between academics and students, this session will discuss both lecturers and students’ views on interactive teaching with smartphones and will provide evidence from a series of workshops I have been running for the past two years with students and academics from the University of Wolverhampton and University of Huddersfield.

Lecture on digital inclusion and digital exclusion

Lecture on key concepts and the implications of the use of AI in Journalism

What are deep fakes? How do they change our perception of reality?

What stories do we tell about AI and how they influence our perceptions of AI and our engagement ... more What stories do we tell about AI and how they influence our perceptions of AI and our engagement with this technology?

Workshop delivered for the PhD students at the University of Wolverhampton, Faculty of Arts, Busi... more Workshop delivered for the PhD students at the University of Wolverhampton, Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences

Ideas for Active Learning

This report arises from ongoing research undertaken by the Economics team of the Economic and Soc... more This report arises from ongoing research undertaken by the Economics team of the Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme Project 'Enhancing Teaching and Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses' (ETL). The Project forms part of Phase II of the Programme. The ETL Project is seeking to identify factors leading to high quality learning environments within five disciplinary contexts across a range of higher education institutions. Meyer's notion of a threshold concept was introduced into project discussions on learning outcomes as a particular basis for differentiating between core learning outcomes that represent 'seeing things in a new way' and those that do not. A threshold concept is thus seen as something distinct within what university teachers would typically describe as 'core concepts'. Furthermore, threshold concepts may represent, or lead to, what Perkins (1999) describes as troublesome knowledge-knowledge that is conceptually difficult, counter-intuitive or 'alien'. Drawing both on project interviews and on observations contributed by academic colleagues from a range of disciplines, the report attempts to define characteristics of threshold concepts and, in the light of Perkins' work, to indicate correspondences between the notion of threshold concepts and that of troublesome knowledge.

Ideas for Active Learning

Mediatisation of Emotional Life

The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Media and Communication Studies, 2022

Migration and Crime, 2018

This chapter explores the immigration-related topics in the news media during the EU referendum c... more This chapter explores the immigration-related topics in the news media during the EU referendum campaign in the UK (April–June 2016) and after (July–September 2016). The chapter argues that attitudes anti-EU immigration are a wave of “new(s)” racism (van Dijk 2000) in the UK and EU immigration is frequently used as an umbrella term for Eastern European immigration being often mixed with non-EU immigration and the refugee crisis. The data shows that the prevalence of negative news stories has led to a distinctive immigration-narrative, confirming the claim of Hoffner and Cohen (2013) that members of minority groups are almost always associated with violent and threatening media content.

International Journal of Digital Television, 2016

Emotions and Loneliness in a Networked Society, 2019

Ubiquitous and easy to use, social media platforms have changed the way we communicate, make new ... more Ubiquitous and easy to use, social media platforms have changed the way we communicate, make new friends or maintain old friendships. Unexpectedly, in the age of enhanced social interconnectivity, people feel lonelier than ever (Turkle 2011), especially young adults (16–24 years old) who are avid social media users are frequently reported to be significantly lonelier than any other age group (Office for National Statistics 2018). This chapter advances our understanding of the relationship between loneliness and social networking websites (SNSs) use and aims to put an end to the debate regarding whether or not SNS use is making young adults lonelier. This is the first research in the UK that analyses and compares the way different SNSs (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) can increase or decrease loneliness in young adults.