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Staff Profile

Dr Shola Olabode

Research Associate Media Culture Heritage

Background

I specialize in researching the nexus of digital media cultures, conflict, and politics, particularly focusing on civic engagement, political participation, online activism, and social movements, including radical conflict. My work delves into how political movements in developing non-western contexts leverage the internet and communication technologies, as showcased in my authored articles and monograph. My doctoral research explored cyberconflict, blending social movement, conflict, and media theories to study mobilization among ethnoreligious and socio-political movements in Nigeria. I am currently a Research Associate in Sociology/Communication Studies at Newcastle University, with previous roles as Research Fellow at the University of Leicester and Instructor at Bangor University, where I also contributed to multidisciplinary projects. Additionally, I have taught courses on Media Movements and Radical Politics and Crime and the Media.

My scholarly interests are particularly piqued by the challenges posed by fake news, deep fakes, disinformation, and misinformation during digital political participation, especially in non-Western contexts like Africa.


Qualifications


PhD in Media Studies

Postgraduate Certificate in Research Training

Master of Research in Media

Master of International Law

BSc (Hons) in Mass Communication

Diploma in Mass Communication


Selected Conference/ Invited Talks


·    Olabode, S and Chambers, D (2024) Tech abuse: Smart home facilitated coercive control. 2nd CyberMi2 Research Day, 2024.' Cybersecurity and Privacy for Minority and Minoritized People, 24 May 2024, The Exchange, University of Birmingham, UK.

·    Karatzogianni, A., Morgner, C., Olabode, S. and Ambusaidi, K. (2022) COVID19 Disinformation and Response in India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand: A Comparative Analysis Study on Twitter PLUS expert Interviews. 4th International Conference on Futures of Media: Media Power. Xiamen University Malaysia.

·    Olabode, S. A. (2021) 'Opportunities and Challenges for ICT Movements in Nigeria: From #Occupy Nigeria, and #Bringbackourgirls, to #Endsars Protests.' A paper presented at the Leicester Institute of Advanced Studies on 'Geopolitics and Cross-cultural Comparisons of ICT Use by Governments, Corporations and Civil Society Actors in the Global South.

·    Olabode, S. A. (2017) A Cyberconflict perspective of ICT use among Sociopolitical and Ethnoreligious conflict Movements in Nigeria. A paper presented at the ESRC seminar series: 'Exploring civil society strategies for democratic renewal: Contentious politics and democracy in the digital arena' City, University of London. 20th January 2017.

·    Olabode, S.A (2017) 'A Cyberconflict analysis of the Boko Haram Conflict in Nigeria.' A paper presented at the 'Migration and Transition- Roots and Routes' International Conference for the Yorkshire African Studies Network (YASN) at the University of Hull, 18-19 May 2017.

·    Olabode, S.A. (2014) 'A Preliminary evaluation of the impact of ICTs on Gender Activism in Nigeria.' A paper presented at the international conference on 'Material Matters in Times of Crisis Capitalism: Transnational Feminist and Decolonial Approaches' at the Institute of Sociology. Justus-Liebig University. Giessen. 13th – 15th November.

·    International Media Development: New Frontiers for Research, Training, and knowledge. A two-day workshop organized by the Centre for International Media Assistance and CAMRI, University of Westminster. October 16-17, 2017 (Washington, DC, and London).




Research

Research Associate - Newcastle University ‘AGENCY: Assuring Citizen Agency in a World with Complex Online Harms’ (2022-2025), an EPSRC funded project which interrogates complex online harms and citizen autonomy and agency.


Research Fellow - University of Leicester H2020 project for the European Commission DigiGen THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS ON THE DIGITAL GENERATION, contributing to several work packages on ICT and Civic Participation (2019-2022) https://www.digigen.eu. 


Research Associate - University of Leicester: 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).


Research Assistant - Bangor University: ‘Achieving Net Zero: A Feasibility Study into the Technical and Communicative Challenges to using Waste Heat from Nuclear Power to Heat Greenhouses. NERC Interdisciplinary Research Project’ (2022).


Research Assistant – University of Leicester: ‘Re-imagining the ‘Homogenocene’ as a safe and resilient place for life on Earth.’ Leicester Institute of Advanced Studies (LIAS) (2020/2021).


Research Assistant - University of Leicester: ‘Digital geographies of Discourses and changing spatial practices in the era of covid19 contact-tracing apps.’ Leicester Institute of Advance Studies (LIAS) (2020).


Publications