Shani Burke

Shani Burke is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Teesside, affiliated with the Institute for Collective Place Leadership and the SSSHL Psychology department. Her research focuses on discursive psychology applied to online communication, particularly analyzing far-right extremism, Islamophobia, and hate speech. She explores how prejudicial arguments are framed as reasonable in digital spaces. Burke has conducted projects on anti-Semitic/Islamophobic discourse on Facebook and asylum seeker experiences, funded by the Glendonbrook Doctoral Fellowship and the Richard Benjamin Trust.

Education & Professional Background: Her academic journey includes doctoral research at Loughborough University (2013-2016). She collaborates with organizations like the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre to understand asylum seeker experiences. She is actively supervising PhD students in prejudice studies, political communication, and computer-mediated communication.

Recent Projects:

• Evaluation of Middlesbrough Council’s Cancer Screening Awareness Programme (2018-2020)
• Study on mothers managing early adolescents' screen use (2023)
• Research on transgender access to public spaces (forthcoming 2023)

Research Contributions: Her work bridges social psychology and digital discourse analysis, addressing contemporary issues like pandemic communication and online hate speech. She employs innovative qualitative methods to uncover societal attitudes toward marginalized groups.