Billur Ozgul

Dr Billur Ozgul serves as Senior Lecturer in Political Communications at Brunel University's School of Social and Political Sciences within the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences. She joined Brunel in August 2019 after serving as Lecturer in Politics at Bournemouth University's Faculty of Media and Communication. Her institutional roles include SPS Senior Tutor, Convenor of the MSc in Political Communication, and Dissertation Coordinator for Journalism programs.

Her research centers on digital media's intersection with politics, specializing in alternative media structures, digitally mediated social movements, and ICTs in protest contexts. Current projects include a British Academy-funded study on vaccine hesitancy among minoritized communities in the UK/US, and comparative analysis of alternative media organizations in Turkey and Greece. Earlier work examined global audience reactions to British Council's #ShakespeareLives cultural diplomacy campaign and media framing of refugees in Turkish media.

• PhD in Political Communications (Royal Holloway, University of London)
• MSc in Politics and International Relations (Royal Holloway)
• BSc in Media, Communication and Journalism (University of Galatasaray)

Her publication portfolio demonstrates consistent focus on digital activism and media-politics interfaces, with recent outputs analyzing anti-lockdown movements, alternative media organizational structures, and cultural diplomacy in social media. Her 2019 monograph Leading Protests in the Digital Age established foundational work on youth activism in Egypt and Syria.

As an educator, she convenes multiple courses including Digital Media Landscape, Journalism/Politics/Power, Media/Social Movements/Change, and Political Communication at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her research collaborations span Reuters Institute, BBC World Service, British Council, and international academic institutions.