I completed my PhD in 2007 at Queen’s University, Belfast. From 2008-2018, I worked at the University of Brighton, UK and in 2014, was given a ‘Rising Star’ award. In June 2018, I joined Loughborough University, London as a Reader in International Politics at the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance.

In 2021, I became Professor of International Politics and in 2024 I became the Dean of Loughborough University, London.

As recipient of a Fulbright ‘All Disciplines’ Scholar Award 2022/23, I was based at USC Annenberg in Los Angeles where my research explored how environmental activists and advocates use images on social media in order to raise awareness, communicate their demands and shape narratives relating to the climate crisis.

I have been a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York, the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, University of Southern California, and the European Centre for Minority Issues in Germany.

I am currently working with Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, Dr Petre Breazu (now at Cambridge University)on his ‘Romaphobia in an Age of Populism: A Study of UK and Swedish Media and Political Discourse’ which examines textual and visual media discourse.

I was awarded a EURIAS Fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam where I was based from September 2018-July 2019. I was also a Marie Curie Fellow awarded by the European Commission.

I was Principal Investigator of an AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) funded project ‘Aesthetics of Protest: Visual Culture and Communication in Turkey’ from 2016-2018.

I supervised a British Academy Newton International Fellow, Ozge Ozduzen (now at Sheffield University), whose work focuses on social movements in Turkey.

I have advised local government in the UK, NGOs and charities in central and eastern Europe and international organisations regarding minority representation and participation.