James Dennis

twitter: @jameswilldennis

Senior Lecturer in Journalism based in the School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies at the University of Portsmouth and Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the New Political Communication Unit at Royal Holloway, University of London.

My research interests lie in political communication, with a particular focus on social media, political participation and citizenship, and digital news. My work has been published in the Civic Media Project, published by MIT Press, Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, and Political Studies.

I received my PhD in Politics from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2016. My PhD thesis is titled “It’s Better to Light a Candle than to Fantasize About a Sun”: Social Media, Political Participation and Slacktivism in Britain. I was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council South East Doctoral Training Centre and was co-supervised by Professor Andrew Chadwick and Professor Ben O'Loughlin.

I have experience of working with industry, carrying out social media research with the BBC World Service and the British Council. I have been a guest contributor for openDemocracy and the Political Studies Association blog, and I have been interviewed about digital politics on BBC Radio Scotland and Inter TV.