Current research considers the implications of technological transformations and social change, including social, cultural, political and economic relationships and movements, as well as social media and activism in contemporary and historical contexts.

As a whole, the Institute has a particular strength in ethnography, participatory approaches, oral histories, archival research and textual analysis.

The Institute explores the application of these methodological approaches to critical studies of gender, sexuality, identity, race and ethnicity. The Institute is also interested in notions of mobility (people and technologies), place, creativity and labour, and the communication practices and infrastructures that connect and disconnect, enable and constrain.

Our academics cover a range of research interests including legacy and new media and communication structures, regulations and practices. The Institute has experience of conducting empirical research across the globe and is particularly interested in global perspectives on media, communication and social change.