University of Westminster

Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies
The Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies is an academic space for independent critical thinking beyond borders. It is a cross-faculty institution based at the University of Westminster in London. Critical Digital & Social Media is a research theme and focus of the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies (WIAS). It addresses the question: What is the role of digital & social media in society, the economy, politics, and culture? Answers to these and other challenging questions tend to be oversimplified, neglecting the complexity of interactions between digital/social media and society. The Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies conducts profound and far-reaching critical and interdisciplinary research that allows the public to understand the impact of digital & social media on society. It not only conducts Internet, digital and social media research, but also advances critical methodological, theoretical, epistemological, ontological, and ethical approaches for studying the Internet, digital and social media’s role in - and impact on - society.

Communication and Media Research Institute
CAMRI is one of the leading media/communication research institutions in Britain. In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, 52 per cent of our research was judged to be "world-leading" (4*) and 35 per cent as "internationally excellent" (3*). CAMRI conducts critical studies of media, communication and digital technologies in society. It uses social theory, qualitatively oriented social research, ethics and policy analysis. Among its strengths are critical political economy of communication, public service media, media policy research, media and social change, digital media studies, international and global media research, media history, media, culture & identity, media and creativity. CAMRI’s vision is research-based critical public intellectual engagement that helps building a participatory, sustainable and co-operative global information society