Staff Profile

I specialize in researching the nexus of digital media cultures, conflict, and politics, particularly focusing on civic engagement, political participation, online activism, and social movements, including radical conflict. My work delves into how political movements in developing non-western contexts leverage the internet and communication technologies, as showcased in my authored articles and monograph. My doctoral research explored cyberconflict, blending social movement, conflict, and media theories to study mobilization among ethnoreligious and socio-political movements in Nigeria. I am currently a Research Associate in Sociology/Communication Studies at Newcastle University, with previous roles as Research Fellow at the University of Leicester and Instructor at Bangor University, where I also contributed to multidisciplinary projects. Additionally, I have taught courses on Media Movements and Radical Politics and Crime and the Media.

My scholarly interests are particularly piqued by the challenges posed by fake news, deep fakes, disinformation, and misinformation during digital political participation, especially in non-Western contexts like Africa.

Qualifications

PhD in Media Studies

Postgraduate Certificate in Research Training

Master of Research in Media

Master of International Law

BSc (Hons) in Mass Communication

Diploma in Mass Communication

Research Associate - Newcastle University ‘AGENCY: Assuring Citizen Agency in a World with Complex Online Harms’ (2022-2025), an EPSRC funded project which interrogates complex online harms and citizen autonomy and agency.

Research Fellow - University of Leicester H2020 project for the European Commission DigiGen THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS ON THE DIGITAL GENERATION, contributing to several work packages on ICT and Civic Participation (2019-2022) https://www.digigen.eu. 

Research Associate - University of Leicester: IRDF ODA: COVID-19 Urgency Call: COVID19 Disinformation and Response in India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand: A Comparative Social Network Analysis Study on Twitter (2020-2021).

Research Assistant - Bangor University: ‘Achieving Net Zero: A Feasibility Study into the Technical and Communicative Challenges to using Waste Heat from Nuclear Power to Heat Greenhouses. NERC Interdisciplinary Research Project’ (2022).

Research Assistant – University of Leicester: ‘Re-imagining the ‘Homogenocene’ as a safe and resilient place for life on Earth.’ Leicester Institute of Advanced Studies (LIAS) (2020/2021).

Research Assistant - University of Leicester: ‘Digital geographies of Discourses and changing spatial practices in the era of covid19 contact-tracing apps.’ Leicester Institute of Advance Studies (LIAS) (2020).

• Articles

  • Olabode S, Owens R, Zhang N, Copilah-Ali J, Kolomeets M, Wu H, Malviya S, Markeviciute K, Spiliotopoulos T, Neesham C, Shi L, Chambers D. Complex Online Harms and the Smart Home: A Scoping Review. Future Generation Computer Systems 2023, 149, 664-678.
  • Olabode S. A Preliminary Overview of ICT Use in the Boko Haram conflict: A Cyberconflict perspective. Contemporary Voices: St Andrews Journal of International Relations 2018, 1(1), 36–49.

• Authored Book

  • Olabode S. Digital Activism and Cyberconflicts in Nigeria: Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram and MEND. Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 2018.

• Book Chapters

  • Olabode, S. Cambridge Analytica's online disinformation and propaganda in Nigeria: Does local culture reveal limits in persuasion and influencer activities?. In: Briant, E.L and Bakir, V, ed. Routledge Handbook of the Influence Industry. Routledge, 2024. In Preparation.
  • Dey A, Olabode s. A Comparative Study of the Delhi Nirbhaya Protests and the Occupy Nigeria Movement: Evaluating Uses of ICTs and Social Media. In: Karatzogianni A; Schandorf M; Ferra I, ed. Protest Technologies and Media Revolutions: The Longue Durée. Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 2020, pp.177-196.
  • Olabode S. Veterans of Diaspora Activism: An overview of ICT uses amongst Nigerian migrant networks. In: Karatzogianni A; Nguyen D; Serafinelli E, ed. The Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp.129-148.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Copilah-Ali J, Owens R, Wu H, Zhang N, Olabode S, Durrant A, Vlachokyriakos V, Elliot K. Responsible AI and the Smart Home Environment: A Multidisciplinary Overview of Issues, Challenges, and Solutions. In: International Conference on AI and the Digital Economy (CADE 2023). 2023, Venice, Italy: IET.
  • Copilah-Ali J, Owens R, Wu H, Zhang VN, Olabode S, Durrant A, Vlachokyriakos V, Elliott K. Responsible AI and the smart home environment: A multidisciplinary overview of issues, challenges and solutions. In: 12th International Conference on Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2023). 2023, Venice, Italy: IET.

• Working Papers

  • Owens R, Copilah-Ali J, Kolomeets M, Malviya S, Markeviciute K, Olabode S, Spiliotopoulos T, Wu H, Nijia Zhang V, Coopamootoo K, Durrant A, Elliott K, Katsigiannis S, Neesham C, Shi L, Farrand B. Reimagining AI Governance: a Response by AGENCY to the UK Government's White Paper AI Regulation. 2023.
  • Seland, I. Understanding children and young people as digital citizens. DigiGen 2022.
  • Karatzogianni A, Tiidenberg A, Parsanoglou D, Olabode S, Nicholes S, Raig M, Symeonaki M, Suitslepp ML. Multimodal research: Youth becoming digital citizens. (DigiGen-working paper series No 7). 2022. In Preparation.
  • Seland, I. Children and young people’s narratives and perceptions of ICT in education in selected European countries complemented by perspectives of teachers and further relevant stakeholders in the educational context. 2022. In Preparation.