Gizem Melek

Gizem Melek is a Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Arts, English and Languages, specializing in political communication, climate change communication, and media gender studies. She holds a prestigious TÜBİTAK research grant and has served as principal investigator on multiple interdisciplinary projects. Previously, she worked as an Associate Professor at Yaşar University in Turkey for 13 years, combining academic research with six years of journalism experience at NTV and ITV.

• Research Focus: Agenda-setting theory, visual journalism, climate policy communication, gender in sports media
• Grants: €40,000 TÜBİTAK grant (2021-2022), EU-funded collaborations
• Award: 2022 Successful Researcher Award

Her work employs mixed methods including surveys, experiments, and content analysis across multiple national contexts. Notable contributions include analyzing Syrian refugee media framing and Instagram’s role in political campaigning. She chairs ECREA’s Women’s Network (2023-2024) and actively contributes to academic peer review and public lectures.

Media contributions include expert commentary on BBC Newsline and podcast discussions on election visual politics. Her research bridges academic theory with practical journalism insights, emphasizing visual storytelling’s societal impact.