twitter: @jameswilldennis

Senior Lecturer in Political Communication and Journalism at the University of Portsmouth. 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 Journal of Information Technology and Politics, Journalism Studies, and Political Studies. My first monograph, Beyond Slacktivism: Political Participation on Social Media, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018. This builds on my PhD research, for which I was awarded the American Political Science Association Information Technology and Politics Section Best Dissertation Award. I am a Co-Convenor of the Political Studies Association Media and Politics Group.

Following the Understanding and Examining the Digital Advocacy Pioneers workshop in September 2018 at the University of Portsmouth, Nina Hall (Johns Hopkins University) and I prepared a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (2020) — Innovation and adaptation throughout the digital eras.

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 have provided commentary on digital politics for national and international media, including BBC Radio and TV, the Financial Times, and the Guardian.

What I'm up to:

• An article entitled “How News Found the Avoiders: The Changing News Routines of Infodemically Vulnerable Young People in England during Covid-19” has been published in Journalism Studies.

• An article co-authored with Charles Leddy-Owen (University of Portsmouth) and Nora Siklodi (University of Portsmouth) has been published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, entitled “Slaughterhouse Cattle are Treated Better than this”: Exploring the Salience of Everyday Nationhood at British Airports.

• I convened the PSA Media & Politics Specialist Group Annual Conference at the University of Portsmouth in October 2023. The conference programme is available here.

• I recently provided commentary to Forbes, the Guardian and the London Evening Standard.

• I delivered invited presentations at Columbia University and the Young Europe Association in 2024.

• I am coordinating an online seminar series with my fellow Convenors of the Political Studies Association Media and Politics Group. Tickets for upcoming events can be found here. Previous seminars can be watched on demand on YouTube here.

• I am currently obsessed with Punisher (Phoebe Bridgers) and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.