Teaching

I have six years of experience of teaching Sociology (undergraduate) and qualitative research methods (postgraduate) at the University of Glasgow. I also have experience of supervising students’ Master dissertations in Sociology and Urban Studies (2019 -2022).

I co-convened, and taught on, the Honours Course Digital Society: Digital Technology, Inequality and Culture (2019-2020). In addition, I designed and delivered lectures (undergraduate & postgraduate) focusing on critical media studies, youth studies and the sociology of consumption, as well as on digital research methods:

Lectures

• Theorising New Media Transformations

MSc Media, Communications and International Journalism, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Glasgow, February 2020

This lecture engaged students with current debates on participation and the possibility of agency in datafied societies, the pervasion of digital platforms in everyday life, the asymmetrical relations of power that shape new media practices, and the challenges posed by surveillance capitalism.

• Repurposing Social Media Platforms for Qualitative Research

PGT Qualitative Research Methods, Graduate School, College of Social Sciences, The University of Glasgow, October 2019 and October 2018

This lecture was designed for the Qualitative Research Methods postgraduate programme and critically examined the use and repurposing of social media platforms, data, and features for research. The lecture addressed the ethical and practical issues raised by repurposing features not originally designed for research and encouraged students to reflect more broadly upon the methodological challenges of using digital platforms and data collected through them in social research.

• Social Media and Consumption: Critical Perspectives on the Culture of Connectivity

MSc Sociology of Consumption, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, November 2018

This lecture focused on social media and consumption and was designed for Honours students as part of the MSc programme Sociology of Consumption. It gave a brief overview of the emergence of Web 2.0 in relation to the ideology of the market and critically discussed how this has shaped normative discourses about connectivity and participation. The lecture introduced students to debates on digital labour, the commodification of relationships, the convergence of private and public, the platformisation of the Web and surveillance.

• Technological Innovations in Research: Using the Internet and New Social Media

Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences (Honours), School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Glasgow, March 2017

This lecture was designed for the Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences programme and examined how the Internet and new social media have affected ways of doing social research. Drawing on scientific literature and empirical examples, it addressed ethical and practical issues around informed consent, anonymity, and privacy raised by research using digital data and engaged students with ongoing debates about the use of new technologies for social research.

• Social Media and Young People: Problematic Representations of the ‘Digital Generation’ and Normative Discourses about Connectivity

MSc Crime, Media and Popular Culture, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Glasgow, October 2016

This lecture delivered as part of the MSc Crime, Media and Popular Culture at Glasgow University, examined the normative representations of the so-called ‘Digital Generation’ and the impacts that these have on young people’s lives. Using themes such as privacy, empowerment or connectivity, often connected to digital youth, this lecture critically discussed the representations of youth and their digital practices by different social groups (parents, teachers, young people themselves) and institutions (media, policy-makers).

• Participatory Photography: Surveillance Under Scrutiny

PGR Applied Qualitative Methods, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, February 2016

This lecture introduced students to participatory photography as a method for social research and encouraged them to reflect on the practical and ethical challenges raised by it.