I was appointed Senior Lecturer in Communications, Media and Democracy in the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow in June 2022. I am currently programme leader for the MSc Media, Culture & Society and coordinate modules such as Social Justice Activism in the Information Age and Media and Conflict Transformation in Divided Societies. Before moving to Glasgow, I was employed at the University of Sheffield as Senior Lecturer in Social Media & Digital Society (October 2015-May 2022) and Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Leicester (November 2009- September 2015). At Sheffield, I held a number of leadership roles including Deputy Director for PGR Student Affairs in the Faculty of Social Sciences (October 2016-September 2018), Deputy Director of Learning and Teaching (August 2019-May 2022) and Ethics Coordinator (October 2018-September 2021) within the Information School. I was awarded the University of Leicester Teaching Fellowship in January 2014 in recognition of my contribution to the enhancement of teaching in the Department of Media and Communication through the development and promotion of digital media technologies. I also received the Leicester Students’ Union Superstar Award in May 2015 for my sensitivity to responding to student learning needs. I am a media and communication researcher with a specific interest in how social media is used to frame contentious political issues within divided societies such as Northern Ireland. I have written two books on the role of the internet in conflict transformation in Northern Ireland (Framing the Troubles Online: Northern Irish Groups and Website Strategy and Digital Contention in a divided society: social media, parades and protest in Northern Ireland). My work has been published in a number of journals including First Monday, Information, Communication & Society, Journalism, New Media & Society, and Policy & Internet. Recently completed research projects include a British Academy funded study of YouTube footage of the union flag protests in Northern Ireland, a study of how social media is used by first responders during crisis situations funded by the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7) and a Horizon 2020 funded study of how social media can be used to build community resilience against disasters. I am currently Chair of the MeCCSA Policy Network and Vice-Chair of the IAMCR Working Group on Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication. I was a regular contributor to the LSE Democratic Audit blog and have appeared on media outlets including BBC News Channel, BBC News Arabic, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Sheffield and BBC Radio Ulster. I have been an invited speaker at events organised by the Arts Marketing Association (East Midlands), the European Police College (CEPOL) and the Royal United Services Institute.
Experience
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2022–presentSenior Lecturer in Communications, Media and Democracy, University of Glasgow
Education
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2008University of Glasgow, PhD Politics
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2001University of St Andrews, MA (Hons) International Relations and Modern History
Publications
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2022Easy data, same old platforms? A systematic review of digital activism methodologies, Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2021.2013918.
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2022Exploring Discourses of Whiteness in the Mary Beard Oxfam-Haiti Twitterstorm, Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2022.2050417
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2021Countering misinformation and disinformation during contentious episodes in a divided society: Tweeting the 2014 and 2015 Ardoyne parade disputes, , First Monday 26(6), 1 July.
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2021Organisational hashtags during times of crisis: Analysing the broadcasting and gatekeeping dynamics of #PorteOuverte during the November 2015 Paris Terror Attacks, Social Media + Society, January 2021. doi:10.1177/2056305121995788
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2021Digital contention in a divided society: Social media, parades and protests in Northern Ireland, Manchester University Press
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2020PSNIRA vs. peaceful protesters? YouTube, ‘sousveillance’ and the policing of the union flag protests, First Monday 25(2)- 3 February
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2018Photographing the Battlefield: The role of Ideology in photojournalist practices during the anti-austerity protests in Greece, Journalism.
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2016Tweeting for Peace? Twitter and the Ardoyne parade dispute, July 2014, First Monday, 21(11), 7 November
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2016Researching protest on Facebook: developing an ethical stance for the study of Northern Irish flag protest pages. , Information Communication and Society, 19 (3), 419-435
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2015Every Little helps? YouTube, sousveillance and the ‘anti-Tesco’ riot in Bristol, New Media and Society, 17(5), 755-771
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2014The ‘Battle of Stokes Croft’ on YouTube: The development of an ethical stance for the study of online comments, SAGE Cases in Methodology
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2014Ethical Dilemmas in Researching Social Media Campaigns on Sensitive Personal Issues: Lessons from the Study of British Disability Dissent Networks, Information, Communication & Society. 17(9), 1131-1146
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2012Community Worker Perspectives on the Use of New Media to Reconfigure Socio-spatial Relations in Belfast, Urban Studies, 49:15, pp.3385-3401
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2011Framing the Troubles Online: Northern Irish Groups and Website Strategy, Manchester University Press
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2011'Anti-social' Networking in Northern Ireland: Policy Responses to Young People's Use of Social Media for Organizing Anti-social Behavior, Policy and Internet, Volume 3, Issue 1.
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2008Googling Terrorists: Are Northern Irish terrorists visible on Internet search engines?, in Spink, A and Zimmer, M. (eds) Search Engines: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, (New York: Springers), pp. 151-177
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2006Civil Society, the Internet and Terrorism: case studies from Northern Ireland, in Oates, S, Owen, D and Gibson, R.K (eds) The Internet and Politics: Citizens, voters and activists (London: Routledge), pp. 118 – 135
Honours
PhD Politics, University of Glasgow, 2008.MA (Hons) International Relations and Modern History, University of St Andrews, 2001.
- Glasgow
- Website
- @PaulJReilly
- Article Feed
- paul.reilly@glasgow.ac.uk
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- Joined
