Karolina Szpyrko

Karolina Szpyrko is an interdisciplinary scholar and Assistant Professor in Media and Communication at Regent’s University London. She holds a PhD in Media and Communications from the University of Sussex and an MA in Film and Television Studies from the University of Warwick.

Karolina's work sits at the intersection of the social sciences and digital humanities, with a particular interest in non-traditional modes of knowledge production. Specialising in social movement studies, her research examines the evolving value of activist labour within contemporary feminist movements. She is particularly interested in mediatised labour and the juridification of human rights activism, as well as the conditions under which activism is organised, represented, and contested.

Alongside this work, Karolina develops co-creational approaches to game design, gamified pedagogies, and experimental methodologies for research and teaching.

• 2017-2023 PhD in Media and Communication - University of Sussex, England
• 2013 - 2014 post-graduate diploma in Culture management in cooperation with the European Union regions, Culture promotion / Distinction - University of Wroclaw, Poland
• 2012 - 2013 MA in Film and Television Studies / Distinction - University of Warwick, England
• 2008 - 2012 BA (Hons) in Applied Social Sciences - The Robert Gordon University, Scotland

Fellowships    

• 01-07 2020: Doctoral Fellow (placement), UNESCO, International Programme for Development of Communication

Work experience  

• 2019-2024: School Tutor, University of Sussex
• 05/2018-10/2019: General editor, Excursions - postgraduate journal, University of Sussex
• 09/2018-08/2019: SAGE Research Hive Scholar, University of Sussex Library
• 05/2015-05/2016: Project officer, DA DEE AT, live art festival, Aberdeen
   

Books

Forthcoming 2027
Szpyrko, K. Activist Labour in Contemporary Social Movements. London: Routledge.

Edited Books

Forthcoming 2027
Szpyrko, K. (ed.) Teaching Gender Otherwise: Transformative Pedagogies for More-than-Human Futures. London: Bloomsbury.

Forthcoming 2027
Gonsalves, E., Wharton, S. and Szpyrko, K. (eds.) Playworkz: Cases on Playful Learning from Indigenous Communities. Pittsburgh, PA: Play Story Press.

Journal Articles

Forthcoming 2026
Szpyrko, K. ‘Fem-Washing of War: Olena Zelenska’s Vogue Cover and the #sitlikeagirl Campaign’. Media and Communication.

2024
Szpyrko, K. ‘Intellectual Property Rights in Polish Feminist Activism: Navigating Identity, Values, and Commodification’. Journal of Media and Rights, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/jmr.v2i1.9

Book Chapters

Forthcoming 2027
Szpyrko, K. ‘Scandalising the Mother Nation: Olena Zelenska’s Vogue Cover and the #sitlikeagirl Controversy’. In A. McDonnell and A. Smith (eds.), Social Scandal. London: Palgrave.

Forthcoming 2026
Szpyrko, K. ‘Filters of Controversy: AI Image Generators and the Aftermath of Political Scandal’. In A. Kunstman and J. Elias (eds.), Visual AI Politics/Politics of Visual AI. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

2026
Szpyrko, K. ‘We Are All Activists Now: Activist-Washing of Labor and Marketization of Hope in Zalando’s #Activists of Optimism Campaign’. In M. Liinason, S. Khosravi Ooryad and O. Kılıç (eds.), Feminist and Queer Imaginaries of Hope in a Turbulent Era. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

2025
Szpyrko, K. ‘Media as Rhetoric Figures: Countering Marginalisation of Non-Metropolitan Feminist Activism in Poland’. In A. Kotaman and G. Şener (eds.), Feminist Activism in the Digital Era: Cultural Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Translations

2025
UNESCO. Journalism, “Fake News” and Disinformation: Handbook for Journalism Education and Training [Dziennikarstwo, „fake news” i dezinformacja: podręcznik dla edukacji i szkoleń dziennikarskich]. Translated by K. Szpyrko and Z. Wiorogórska. Paris: UNESCO.

• Social movement studies
• Feminist media studies
• Refugee and migrant activism
• Human rights activism and juridification
• AI, politics, and visual culture
• Political scandal and controversy
• Nontraditional and experimental modes of knowledge production
• Co-creational and participatory research methods
• Game-based research and playful methodologies

Karolina is open to supervising BA, MA, and doctoral research in the broad areas of cultural and media studies, particularly in relation to activism, digital media, political communication, feminist theory, and emerging technologies.

If you are interested in developing a doctoral application, get in touch via [email protected] for further discussion.

• ATGENDER, The European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation
• CHASE Climate Justice Network
• Memory Studies Association
• IMISCOE (Int. Migration Research Network)

Experience teaching the following modules:

• Emerging Technologies (PGT)
• Research Innovations and Digital Methods (PGT)
• Critical Perspectives on Data (PGT)
• Core Concepts in Global Media (PGT)
• Media Research Design and Methods (PGT)
• Social Media and Digital Culture (PGT)
• Current Issues in Media and Public Relations (UG)
• Media Production and Content Consumption (UG)
• Political Communications (UG)
• Media Histories and Futures (UG)
• Why We Post: Social Media and Us (UG)
• Communications (UG)
• Cultural Understanding (UG)
• London Perspectives (UG)
• Analysing Media, Texts, Audiences (UG)
• How to Think in a Post-Truth World (UG)
• How to Create a Social Enterprise (UG)