Rate My Professor Emma Briant

Dr. Emma L. Briant is Associate Professor of News and Political Communication in the School of Media, Film and Journalism, Faculty of Arts, at Monash University. She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Glasgow in 2011, with a dissertation on the propaganda 'War on Terror'; an MSc in Sociology from the same university in 2007 (with Distinction); an MRes in Business and Public Management Research from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2004; and a BA in International Relations and Politics from Coventry University in 2003 (2:1 with Honours). Her research specializations include contemporary propaganda and information warfare, military propaganda, surveillance, data misuse in political campaigns such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, disinformation operations, private intelligence firms, media bias, representations of marginalized groups like refugees and disabled people, ethics in warfare, and regulation of influence operations. Prior to Monash in 2023, she was Lecturer in Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield (2013-2017) and Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Essex (promoted 2017). She maintains roles as Research Associate in Bard College's Human Rights Program, Associate at University of Cambridge Judge Business School's Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability, and Fellow at Central European University Center for Media, Data and Society.

At Monash, Dr. Briant coordinated the 'News and Power' unit (ATS2784), served as Chief Examiner and Unit Coordinator for 'Propaganda: Dark Arts in a Digital Age' (ATS3971), acted as Head of Journalism, and was a member of the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Research Network, contributing to reports with Reset Australia. Key publications include Propaganda and Counter-terrorism: Strategies for Global Change (Manchester University Press, 2015), Bad News for Refugees (Pluto Press, 2013, with Greg Philo and Pauline Donald; 351 citations), 'Reporting Disability in the Age of Austerity' (Disability & Society, 2013; 286 citations), co-edited Routledge Handbook on the Influence Industry (Routledge, 2024), 'LeaveEU: Dark Money, Dark Ads and Data Crimes' (SAGE Handbook of Propaganda, 2019), and 'Researching Influence Operations: Dark Arts Mercenaries and the Digital Influence Industry' (Oxford Handbook of Digital Diplomacy, 2023). Awards and fellowships encompass ESRC funding for MSc and PhD (2004-2011), £30,000 ESRC grant as co-investigator (2014), Institute for New Economic Thinking fellowships ($50,000, 2019; $25,000, 2020), and Open Society Foundations fellowship ($25,000, 2020). Her scholarship, with over 1,350 Google Scholar citations, has advanced propaganda studies, digital diplomacy, and counter-disinformation efforts.