Staff Profile

I am a Reader in Digital Media & Discourse Studies; teaching and researching the intersection of participatory web, discourse, society & politics. My research trajectory comprises of theorisation and integration of discourse studies in various digital media practices on a range of topics including social media discourses on (national/ethnic/gender/group) identity, digital populism, immigration/racism/nationalism, political communication, discourses of cyber terrorism, online misogyny, and the notion of Techno-Discursive Analysis. As a general encapsulation, I am interested in the interplay of digital media technologies/affordances of representation, discourse and politics. 

Google Scholar 

Before joining Newcastle, I held lectureship and research positions at Northumbria and Lancaster University where I did my PhD research in critical discourse studies. I have been involved in the ESRC funded research project RASIM, researching the representation of migrants in the Britain see see. My co-edited volume on Right wing populism was published in 2013. My research on representations in discourses of Iran's nuclear programme was published in 2015 by John Benjamins as Discourse, Identity and Legitimacy. Since 2013, my work has particularly focused on digital mediation technologies and discourse including three edited volumes on digital discourse and society e.g. here and here.

I am concentrated on developing a model under the rubric of Social Media Critical Discourse Studies (SM-CDS) which involves transdisciplinary examination of theoretical and methodological challenges of applying a discourse analytical approach to digital participatory contexts i.e. social media including major case studies on discourses of national identity in the Middle East i.e. Arabism, terrorism, digital media and hate speech etc. See also. In more recent work, I have proposed the notion of Techno-Discursive Design in social media whereby algorithmic regimentation of content and practices are theorised as fundamental contexts of meaning making and politics of representation/perception. Together with integration of research in Affects, Big Data, politics of democratisation and populism, I am exploring the critical implications of the shifts in discourse formation and consumption in new media and its consequential impact on understanding of politics and participation in both late-capitalist contexts of the global 'north' as well as the developing global 'south' contexts. I am founder and convenor of Newcastle Critical Discourse Group and member of academic board for Journal of Language and Politics and Critical Discourse Studies. I also serve as an Expert Reviewer for European Research Council actions, including Marie Curie IF, Combating Digital Misogyny, Islamophobia and Racism, British ESRC among several other international funding organisations. 

I have taught on a wide range of subjects at UG, PGT, and PhD levels since 2006. This includes modules on Digital Discourses & Identity, Critical Discourse Studies, Digital Politics, Power and Communication, Analysing Media, Research Methodologies, Advertising Production and Texts, TV Studies etc. I currently lead and teach Digital Discourses & Identity and Politics, Power and Communication in addition to BA/MA/PhD supervisions and post-doc mentorships. 

I am interested in supervising/leading research projects including PhDs, post-docs, fellowships and grant applications drawing on Techno-Discursive Analysis and Social Media Critical Discourse Studies on a range of topics including but not limited to digital media and social/political identities, participatory web and immigration, digital media and democracy, discourses of fake news and conspiracy theories, digital authoritarianism and counter publics, digital fascism/nationalism/racism, politics of social media and algorithms, digital representation and regimentation in international conflicts esp. the Middle East etc.

Academia profile, LinkedIn, CDA group, Twitter, Telegram group, Newcastle Critical Discourse Group, Google Citations

My research trajectory comprises of theorisation, characterisation, and integration of discourse studies in various digital media practices on a range of topics including social media discourses and (national/ethnic/gender/group) identity, digital populism, immigration/racism/nationalism, political communication, discourses of cyber terrorism, online misogyny, and the notion of Techno-Discursive Analysis. As a general encapsulation, I am interested in the interplay of digital media technologies/affordances of representation, discourse and politics. 

Undergraduate: MCH3085: Digital Discourses & Identity; MCH3077: Politics, Power and Communication; MCH3072/3073 UG Dissertation in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies

Postgraduate: MCH8177: Politics, Power and Communication; MCH8058: Methodologies: Researching Media, Culture and Society; MCH8199/8299 PGT Dissertation in Media.

BA/MA/PhD supervisions. 

• Articles

  • KhosraviNik M, Amer M. Social media and terrorism discourse: the Islamic State’s (IS) social media discursive content and practices. Critical Discourse Studies 2022, 19(2), 124-143.
  • Peng AY, Hou JZ, KhosraviNik M, Zhang X. “She uses men to boost her career”: Chinese digital cultures and gender stereotypes of female academics in Zhihu discourses. Social Semiotics 2023, 33(4), 750-768.
  • Sarkhoh N, KhosraviNik M. Social media discourses of Arabism and the negotiation of Self in the Middle East. World Englishes 2020, 39(4), 609-622.
  • KhosraviNik M. Social Media Techno-Discursive Design, Affective Communication and Contemporary Politics. Fundan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2018, 11(4), 427-442.
  • KhosraviNik M, Esposito E. Online hate, digital discourse and critique: Exploring digitally-mediated discursive practices of gender-based hostility. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 2018, 14(1), 45-68.
  • Khosravinik M. Right wing populism in the West: Social Media Discourse and Echo Chambers. Insight Turkey 2017, 19(3), 53-68.
  • KhosraviNik M, Sarkhoh N. Arabism and anti-Persian sentiments on participatory platforms: A social media critical discourse study. International Journal of Communication 2017, 11, 3614-3633.
  • Kelsey D, Mueller F, Whittle A, KhosraviNik M. Financial crisis and austerity: Interdisciplinary concerns in critical discourse studies. Critical Discourse Studies 2016, 13(1), 1-19.
  • KhosraviNik M. Macro and micro legitimation in discourse on Iran’s nuclear programme: The case of Iranian national newspaper Kayhan. Discourse and Society 2015, 26(1), 52-73.
  • KhosraviNik M, Zia M. Persian Nationalism, Identity and Anti-Arab Sentiments in Iranian Facebook Discourses: Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Media Communication. Journal of Language and Politics 2014, 13(4), 755-780.
  • KhosraviNik M. The representation of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in British newspapers: a critical discourse analysis. Journal of Language and Politics 2010, 9(1), 1-28.
  • KhosraviNik M. Actor descriptions, action attributions, and argumentation: towards a systematization of CDA analytical categories in the representation of social groups. Critical Discourse Studies 2010, 7(1), 55-72.
  • KhosraviNik M. The representation of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in British newspapers during the Balkan conflict (1999) and the British general election (2005). Discourse and Society 2009, 20(4), 477-498.
  • KhosraviNik M. British newspapers and the representation of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants between 1996 and 2006. Centre for Language in Social Life 2008.
  • Baker P, Gabrielatos C, KhosraviNik M, Krzyżanowski M, McEnery T, Wodak R. A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press. Discourse & Society 2008, 19(3), 273-306.
  • Yarmohammadi L, KhosraviNik M. A critical analysis of news discourses in Iranian newspapers, a socio-semantic approach. Nameh Farhang (Letter of Culture) Quarterly 2002, 42.

• Authored Book

  • KhosraviNik M. Discourse, Identity and Legitimacy: Self and Other in representations of Iran's nuclear programme. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2015.

• Book Chapters

  • Esposito E, KhosraviNik M. Discourse in the digital age: A critical introduction. In: Esposito E; KhosraviNik M, ed. Discourse in the Digital Age : Social Media, Power and Society. London: Routledge, 2023, pp.1-17.
  • Esposito E, KhosraviNik M. Digital distribution processes and "new" research tools in SM-CDS. In: KhosraviNik, Majid, ed. Social Media and Society: Integrating the digital with the social in digital discourse. John Benjamins, 2023, pp.15-37.
  • KhosraviNik M. Connecting the digital with the social in digital discourse: An introduction to the scene. In: KhosraviNik, Majid, ed. Social Media and Society: Integrating the digital with the social in digital discourse. John Benjamins, 2023, pp.1-14.
  • KhosraviNik M. Social Media Critical Discourse Studies (SM-CDS). In: Flowerdew,J; Richardson,J, ed. Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies. London, UK: Routledge, 2017, pp.582-596.
  • KhosraviNik M, Unger J. Critical Discourse Studies and Social Media: power, resistance and critique in changing media ecologies. In: Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, ed. Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. Sage Publications Ltd, 2016, pp.206-233.
  • Unger J, Wodak R, KhosraviNik M. Critical Discourse Studies and Social Media Data. In: Silverman, D, ed. Qualitative Research. London: SAGE, 2016, pp.277-293.
  • KhosraviNik M. Immigration Discourses and Critical Discourse Analysis: Dynamics of World Events and Immigration Representations in the British Press. In: Hart, C; Cap, P, ed. Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014, pp.501-519.
  • KhosraviNik M. Critical Discourse Analysis, Power, and New Media Discourse. In: Kopytowska, M.; Kalyango, Y, ed. Why Discourse Matters: Negotiating Identity in the Mediatized World. New York, NY, USA: Peter Lang, 2014, pp.287-306.
  • Wodak R, KhosraviNik M. Dynamics of discourse and politics in right-wing populism in Europe and beyond: An introduction. In: Wodak, R., KhosraviNik, M., Mral, B, ed. Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse. London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2013, pp.xvii-xxviii.
  • KhosraviNik M, Wodak R, Krzyzanowsky M. Dynamics of Representation in Discourse: Immigrants in the British Press. In: M. Messer, R. Schroeder and R. Wodak, ed. Migrations: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2012, pp.283-295.

• Edited Books

  • KhosraviNik Majid, ed. Social Media Critical Discourse Studies. London: Routledge, 2023.
  • KhosraviNik M, ed. Social media and society: Integrating the digital with the social in digital discourse. John Benjamins, 2023.
  • Esposito E, KhosraviNik M, ed. Discourse in the digital age: Social media, power, and society. New York: Routledge, 2023.
  • Kelsey D, Mueller F, Whittle A, KhosraviNik M, ed. The Discourse of Financial Crisis and Austerity : critical analyses of business and economics across disciplines. London: Routledge, 2017.
  • Kelsey D, Mueller F, Whittle A, KhosraviNik M, ed. The discourse of crisis and austerity: Critical analyses of business and economics across disciplines. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
  • Wodak R, KhosraviNik M, Mral B, ed. Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.

• Review

  • KhosraviNik M. Review of: Media, Wars and Politics: Comparing the Incomparable in Western and Eastern Europe by Ekaterina Balabanova by Ekaterina Balabanova (2007). Journal of Language and Politics 2011, 10(1), 129-132.