Dr Sam Mejias

Through projects in the fields of media, education, citizenship, and design, Dr Mejias investigates how human rights and social justice discourses, knowledge and practices are mediated across different cultures, shaping possibilities for structural change. In particular Dr Mejias examines the influence of equity-based policies and practices in the lives of marginalised and historically underrepresented groups, through ethnographic investigations of schools, grassroots political movements, and digital media platforms.

Dr Mejias is Co-Investigator for the National Science Foundation and Wellcome Trust funded project Science Learning+ STEM Inside– Broadening Participation through Transdisciplinary Youth Development Programs Leveraging Technology, Arts, Design, and the Sciences. Dr Mejias’ studies on the project include leading the London-based "Learning from Creative Software Production" exploring the relationship between youth creative media learning practices, STEM, and equity; and co-investigating the US and UK based "Carnival, Spectacle and Hybridity," a case study of arts-based science communication practices at cultural festivals. He also works on the project’s wider longitudinal study in the US, UK and Ireland.

In addition to his current project, Dr Mejias is also Principal Investigator for the LSE Middle East Centre funded project EmpoweringDemocratic Citizenship through Education: Exploring Rights-Based Approaches to Educational Policymaking in Kuwait(2019-2021) in collaboration with the Gulf University for Science and Technology. Previously, from 2015-2018, he was a researcher in the department on - Constructing Active Citizenship with European youth: policies, practices, challenges and solutions, a multi-country European Commission Horizon 2020 Young 5a funded project. Both projects explore the tensions between discourses and struggles for social and political justice, and the structural and cultural affordances and barriers circumscribing active citizenship practices.

Postgraduate Teaching

Dr Mejias does not currently teach in the department, but previously convened the postgraduate course Humanitarian Communication (MC429) and lectured on the team-taught summer school short course Global Communications, Citizens and Cultural Politics (IR140)

Dr Mejias has also contributed lectures and seminars on team-taught postgraduate Media and Communications courses relating to research methodologies (MC4M1/MC4M2).

Postgraduate Supervision

Dr Mejias acted as dissertation supervisor for departmental MSc students between 2017-2020, and is currently not advising incoming students.

Dr Mejias has been supervising between 6-8 MSc students per year in the department since 2017.