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, I was given a ‘Rising Star’ award. In June 2018, I joined Loughborough University, London through the Excellence 100 framework as a Reader in International Politics at the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance.

In August 2021, I became Professor of International Politics. I also became Associate Dean for Research for the London campus in May 2021.

As recipient of a Fulbright ‘All Disciplines’ Scholar Award 2022/23, I will be based at USC Annenberg in Los Angeles where my research will explore 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 and the European Centre for Minority Issues in Germany.

I am currently working with Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, Dr Petre Breazu 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 working with colleagues at Glasgow Caledonia University, University of Brighton and Bilgi University, Istanbul.

I supervised a British Academy Newton International Fellow, Ozge Ozduzen, whose work focuses on social movements in Turkey. I also supervised Dr. Lucie Fremlova, on her CEU Budapest Post Doctoral Fellowship on LGBTIQ Roma. I have advised local government in the UK, NGOs and charities in central and eastern Europe and international organisations regarding minority representation and participation.