Invitation for Collaboration: let's build our working cluster for a joint project

Dear colleagues,
Hoping you are well. I am writing to present this initiative seeking collaboration with colleagues of similar interests. I am preparing a research project proposal on ‘social media and political violence’. This will help us build a network or a working cluster of researchers who share similar interest. The cluster aims to include but not limited to MCAA fellows/members, MA students, PhD candidates, lecturers, professors. By political violence, I mean online radicalisation, terrorism, extremism, hate speech, …etc. 

Briefly, this project aims to conduct a critical research to advance our understanding of how discourse figures in social processes, social structures, and social change. This proposed project aspires to explore and investigate patterns, paths, dynamics of extreme right and radical organisations/movements exploit and practise social media to propagate their agenda, ideologies on social media platforms, mobilize (young) audiences and reinforce their legitimacy for wider online and/offline communities. 

My main discipline is in media and communication and methodologically, I usually employ critical discourse studies approach in my research. However, with the advancement of internet and social media affordances, I claim and argue that we need to go beyond ‘traditional’ research methods towards inter-disciplinary framework(s). We need to see in practice a dialogue between disciplines: critical discourse studies, computer science, psychology, political science and possibly other disciplines, e.g. quantitative approach of big data. 

While I am still writing this proposal, I am very interested to hear from and collaborate with colleagues working on or interested in similar projects/ideas.   

If you would like to collaborate together, exchange ideas, make a suggestion, have a question or have a chat, first, please get in touch with me directly on my contact details below. Secondly, we can have a meeting on Skype or somewhere you suggest to discuss the proposal and make contributions together. Thirdly, we can present this proposal as a joint project to seek fund from various resources including Marie Curie Alumni Association and the UK chapter.

Looking forward to hearing from you and continue writing this project with you

Wesam Amer 
 

Dr Wesam Amer
Post-doctoral researcher (Social Media and Terrorism) 
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow
Media, culture and Heritage
School of Arts and Cultures
Newcastle University
NE1 7RU
wesaam.amer@gmail.com 
+44(0)7400737199 (UK)
+4917684433380 (Germany)