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Communication and Human Security Research Group

This group explores the diverse ways in which today’s fast-changing communication environment enters into situations of human (in)security in global context, including atrocity.

The Group sets out to explore the diverse ways in which today’s fast-changing communication environment enters into situations of human (in)security in global context, including atrocity. We are interested in

  • exploring how communications can alert publics and power holders to known antecedents of imminent violence
  • how the field of violence and its aftermath becomes reported locally and around the world and with what impacts
  • how communications inform local, regional and international humanitarian, political and/or military responses.

We are also interested in how today’s complex communications bear witness and give voice to those positioned at the sharp end of human (in)security as well as the progressive roles and responsibilities of media in processes of civil society repair and democratic deepening following atrocity events.

The research group encompasses the study of communications at different institutional levels and via overlapping and interlinked communication flows and technologies. It ranges spatially across local, national, regional and international geo-political terrains, and encompasses the dynamics of communications before, during and following atrocity events.

Aims

We seek to bring together scholars and build national and international networks, expertise and research endeavour aimed at better understanding (and potentially leveraging) the ways in which changing communications enter into, surround and can militate against acts of collective violence and atrocity in diverse contexts of human insecurity. These include warring states, repressive regimes and new wars, as well as staged, mediatized acts of terror, and eruptions of inter-communal violence based on deep-seated fears and enmities.

Studies of communication in the perpetuation of violence have often focused on how media contribute to the incitement of hatreds through representational processes of collective denigration and othering, and legitimize hate discourse and war propaganda. Our research group is principally concerned with examining the diverse ways in which today’s communications can serve to militate against acts of atrocious violence in conditions of human insecurity and contribute to processes of civil society repair and democratic deepening.

The research draws together researchers who have been actively involved in publishing and researching the study of communications in contexts of war, conflict, communal enmity and atrocity as well as peace journalism, humanitarian issues and disasters in global context.

Academic staff

Professor Stuart Allan

Professor Stuart Allan

Professor of Journalism and Communication

Email
allans@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44(0)29 208 74509
Dr Cynthia Carter

Dr Cynthia Carter

Reader

Email
cartercl@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 6172
Professor Stephen Cushion

Professor Stephen Cushion

Director of Postgraduate Research

Email
cushionsa@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 208 74570
Dr John Jewell

Dr John Jewell

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Email
jewellj@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 5331
Professor Lina Dencik

Professor Lina Dencik

Professor

Email
dencikl@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 2087 5461
Professor Jenny Kitzinger

Professor Jenny Kitzinger

Director of Research: Impact and Engagement and Co-Director of the Coma and Disorders of Consciousness Research Centre

Email
kitzingerj@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 208 74571
Professor Justin Lewis

Professor Justin Lewis

Professor of Communication

Email
lewisj2@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 208 76341
Dr Kerry Moore

Dr Kerry Moore

Senior Lecturer

Email
moorek4@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 208 76199
Nick Mosdell

Nick Mosdell

Senior Lecturer

Email
mosdelln1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 208 70102
Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

University Dean of Research Environment and Culture

Email
wahl-jorgensenk@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 (0)29 208 79414