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Research Grants, Awards, Honours and Prizes

Research in the Department of Media and Communications examines how changes in media and communications shape, and are shaped by, social, cultural, political, economic, and historical developments.

The following is a selection of research funding grants and awards received by the Department of Media and Communications.

2026

  • LSE Urgency Grant. Listening in the wake of the Manchester synagogue attack. Total: £12,533. (Shani Orgad)

2025

  • Huo Family Foundation. DigiPulse: Real-time Ecological Momentary Assessment of children's smartphone engagement and mental health. Total: £825,342. (Sonia Livingstone and Kim R Sylwander)
  • LSE Urgency Grant. Listening in the wake of the Manchester synagogue attack. Total: £12,533. (Shani Orgad)
  • LSE Participatory Research Fund. Our Data Bodies at Work. Total: £9,000. (Seeta Peña Gangadharan)
  • ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Fiction, Friction, and the Phenomena of Fibre: Towards an Ethnography of Critical Digital Infrastructure. Total: £155,152. (Tomas Walker-Borsa)
  • Garfield Weston. Digital Futures for Children. Total: £60,000. (Sonia Livingstone)

2024

  • LSE Urgency Grant. Audio-Visual Disinformation During Elections in Western Democracies. Total: £12,739. (Bart Cammaerts)
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Evaluating measures of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse around the world. Total: £35,511. (Sonia Livingstone)
  • LSE Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE). Resisting Inequalities through a Global Arts Network: Online and offline barriers to and facilitators of connection and impact (RIGAN). Total: £100,000. (Ellen Helsper)
  • LSE Urgency Grant. AI and the Far-Right Riots in the UK. Total: £4,132. (Beatriz Lopes-Buarque)
  • British Academy/Leverhulme Trust. Social Media Influences in West Africa: Women, Work and Redistribution in Digital Economy. Total: £9,500. (Ewa Majczak)
  • LSE Urgency Grant. Citizen-Refugeeness: Internal Displacement and Digital Order in Greece's Storm Daniel. Total: £9,504. (Afroditi Koulaxi)
  • LSE Research and Impact Support Fund (RISF). Humans behind the intelligent machine: AI, development and the future of work. Total: £18,500. (Bingchun Meng)
  • LSE Research and Impact Support Fund (RISF).Audio-Visual Disinformation During Elections in Western Democracies. Total: £12,739. (Bart Cammaerts)
  • LSE Research Investment Fund (RIF). Case for Support to the project AI and the Far-Right Riots in the UK. Total: £4,132 (Beatriz Lopes Buarque)

2023

  • 5Rights Foundation. Digital Futures for Children (DFC). Total: £1,122,190. (Sonia Livingstone)
  • British Academy. 'Fissures in Algorithmic Seeing: Bottom-up Resistance to Computer Vision Algorithms'. Total: £8,975. (Gabriel Pereira)
  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). 'China's International Communication strategy in Latin America (CICLA)'. Total £251,200. (Pablo Morales)
  • ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. 'Mobile lovers: Affordances, spaces, and narrativisation among dating app users in Berlin'. Total £149,392. (Fabian Broeker)
  • Leverhulme Trust. Research Project Grants Scheme. 'Menopause in UK public discourse: visibility, content, factors and implications' Total: £248,924.(Shani Orgad)
  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). 'Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum'. Total: £249,924. (Shakuntala Banaji)
  • LSE Research Investment Fund. Listening to Self-Care Stories In The Current Crises. Total: £18,799. (Shani Orgad)
  • Open Society Institute (OSF). Justice, Equity and Technology Table. Total: £215,808. (Seeta Peña Gangadharan).

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

  • The Royal Society Newton International Fellowship. 'Alevi Television and the Making of Transnational Alevi Identity'. Total Budget: £90,000. Period: 10/2016 - 09/2018. (Cetin Berfin)
  • The Oxford Noble Foundation. 'The Future of Public Service Broadcasting: Poland in Comparative Perspective'. Total Budget: £50,000. Period: 10/2016 - 09/2017. (Charlie Beckett)
  • European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie-Curie European Individul Fellowship. Lukasz Szulc - 'Social Media and Identity from the Perspective of Diasporic LGBTQs'. Total budget: £134,796. Period: 10/2016 - 09/2018. (Myria Georgiou)
  • International Inequalities Institute Research Innovation Fund. ‘Network effects in digital exclusion: Social contextual explanations of the links between social and digital inequalities.’ Total Budget £9,945. Period: 1/8/2016 – 1/8/2016. (Ellen Helsper)
  • Prince’s Trust. ‘Socio-Digital Skills and Wellbeing of Disadvantaged Young people’. Total Budget £33,809. Period: 4/7/2016 – 9/12/2016 (Ellen Helsper)
  • New America. 'Our Data Bodies'. Total: £37,864. Period: 10/2016-03/2019. (Seeta Peña Gangadharan)

2015

2014

2013

  • Open Society Foundation. Connecting Scholars and Civil Society: Building an International Media Policy Network. Total budget: £29,360; Period 01/11/13 - 31/10/14 (Damian Tambini)
  • European Commission: EINS. STRUCTNET: Algebraic structures of Network. Total budget: 10,043 Euro; period 01/10/2013 - 30/09/14 (Paolo Dini)
  • European Commission FP7 Cooperation: COMPARE. Interdisciplinary explorations of self-organisation in practice. Budget of 1,846 Euro; period 10/13 - 09/14 (Paolo Dini)
  • John Fell Fund, University of Oxford:. From digital skills to tangible outcomes: improving measures and models of internet use. Total budget £27,885; period 08/13 - 03/14 (Ellen Helsper)
  • UNICEF Office of Research. 'Recommendations for developing UNICEF's global research strategy on children’s rights in a digital age'. Total Budget: €25,000. Period: 2013. (Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Commission FP7 People Marie-Curie: Upload. Budget of 177,910 Euro; period 03/13 - 02/15 (Myria Georgiou)
  • Marie Curie Inter-European Fellowship, (UPLOAD) Upload. Urban Politics of London Youngsters Analyzed Digitally. Total budget £231,283; period 2013-2015 (Koen Leurs)
  • LSE Seed Fund. Community through digital connectivity? Total budget: £23,805.00; period 10/2013 - 09/2014 (Myria Georgiou and Sonia Livingstone)
  • LSE Seed Fund. Beyond 'Desperate Housewives'. Total budget: £17,589; period 01/07/2013 - 31/03/2014 (Shani Orgad)

2012

2011

  • European Commission FP7 Cooperation: EU Kids Online III. Budget of 500K euros; period 12/11 - 11/14 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Commission (Information Society and Media Directorate-General): partnership in European Network of Excellence on Internet Science. LSE Budget of 100,000 Euro; period 12/2011 - 06/2014 (Alison Powell and Paolo Dini)
  • Open Society Foundation: Arab Revolutions: Media Revolutions. Budget of £12,608; period 12/2011 - 03/12 (Charlie Beckett)
  • Open Society Foundation: Facilitating Academic and Civil Society Engagement in Media Policy Debates. Budget of £31,000; period 08/11 - 02/13 (Damian Tambini)
  • UC Humanities Research Institute: Methodologies for Researching Connected Learning. Budget of £12,984 period 07/11 - 06/12 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • UC Humanities Research Institute: Distributed Research Learning Network. Budget of £18,588; period 06/11 - 11/11 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • The MacArthur Foundation: The Class, part of the Connected Learning Research Network, budget of $280,000 (main award, plus supplementary award of $30,000 and award for seminar organisation of $22,000; period 01/11-12/14 (Soina Livingstone)
  • National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). UK qualitative pilot study on young people and ‘sexting’. Co-I with Institute of Education, Kings College London and LSE. Total Budget: £25,000. Period 2011. (Soina Livingstone)

2010

  • International Knowledge Management - Emergent, EUR 5m, period 2007-2012 (Steering Committee member) European Commission (7th Framework Programme): 'Socio-Economic Impact Assessment for Research Projects' (SEQUOIA), budget of EUR 151,070, period: 01/05/2010 - 30/04/2012 (Paolo Dini and Robin Mansell)
  • LSE HEIF4 Fund. 'Media Policy Project'. Total Budget: £19,739. Period 2010-11. (Damian Tambini)
  • The Leverhulme Trust. ' Mediated Humanitarian Knowledge; Audiences' Reactions and Moral Actions', budget £232,210; period: 1/10/2010 - 1/10/2013 (B. Seu and Shani Orgad).
  • Hellenic Alumni Association. Sponsorship to support PhD Scholarship in 'International Journalism'. Total Budget: £30,000. (Lilie Chouliaraki)

2009

  • European Commission (7th Framework Programme): Family Platform: Social platform on research for families and family policy, budget of 1,546,740 Euros to the consortium, including 54,302 Euros to LSE; period: 10/2009 - 04/2011 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Research Council, Advanced Investigator Grants: ' Media and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: Qualities of Media, Qualities of Democracy', budget of EUR 2,06 million, period 1/10/09-30/9/13 (J.Zielonka and Terhi Rantanen)
  • US Conference Board /Telefonica Foundation Funding, The Linked World: The long tail of digital exclusion. Total Budget $44.000, period 09/2009 - 04/2010 (Ellen Helsper)
  • LSE Seed Fund. Local Citizen Participation in Local Government. Budget: £4,000.00. Period: June 2009 - June 2010. (L.Manyozo).
  • LSE Seed Fund. Riding on eMule: A Case Study on the File Sharing Community in China. Budget: £3,750.00. Period: January - April 2009. (Bingchun Meng)

2008

  • European Commission: Media and Citizenship. Transnational Television Cultures Reshaping Political Identities in the European Union, budget 327,117 euro; period: 01/04/2008 - 30/03/2011 (Myria Georgiou European Consortium leader: C.Slade)
  • European Commission (7th Framework Programme). 'Connecting Socio-Economic Research on the Dynamics of the Knowledge Society in the European Union and Latin American and Caribbean Countries' (EULAKS), EUR 95,791, period: 1/02/2008-31/01/2011 (Paolo Dini)
  • Dutch Research Council for the Humanities. 'Journalism and Cosmopolitanism' with Utrecht University. Total Budget: £30,000. Period 2008-2010. (Lilie Chouliaraki)

2007

  • ESRC Seminar Series. ' The Educational and Social Impact of New Technologies on Young People in Britain', budget of £17K; period: 01/10/2007-30/9/2009, with John Coleman, Department of Education, University of Oxford. (Sonia Livingstone)
  • DfES/Becta. 'DfES - Children Go Online - Literature Review', period :02-03/07 (Sonia Livingstone)

2006

  • Research Council of Norway. 'Mediatized Stories: Mediation perspectives on digital storytelling among youth' (1 of 20 networked researchers from Nordic countries, UK and USA), 4.4 million NOK; period: 2006-2009 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Commission. "Open Philosophies for Associative Autopoietic Digital Ecosystems" (OPAALS), EUR 1,392,759, period: 01/06/2006-31/08/2010 (Paolo Dini, Robin Mansell)
  • Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. "Diasporic Daughters", budget of £2,500; period: 01/06/2006-30/08/2006 (Youna Kim)
  • Nuffield Foundation. "Diasporic Daughters", budget of £9,540; period: 01/01/2006-30/06/2006 (Youna Kim)
  • EC (Safer Internet Plus programme). 'EU Kids Online', budget of 0.5m Euro, period: 26/06/2006-25/06/2009. (Sonia Livingstone and Leslie Haddon)
  • RCPO/EPSRC. IDEAS Factory, Sand-Pit Director, 'Countering Terrorisim in Public Places', budget of £20,000, period: 03/08/2006-31/12/2006 (Robin Mansell)
  • USC Annenberg Center for Communication. Senior visiting fellowship ($15,000), period: 01/10/2006- 31/01/2007 (Terhi Rantanen)
  • European Commission (6th Framework Programme). 'Biologically-Inspired Autonomic Networks and Services' (BIONETS), EUR 461,248; period: 01/01/2006-28/02/2010 (Paolo Dini)
  • LSE Seed Fund. The Survivor in Contemporary Media and Public Disclosure. Budget of £13,730.00. Period: June 2006 - August 2007. (Shani Orgad)

2005

  • OFCOM. Updating R18 Literature Review, period: 11/05-02/06 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • Technical University of Denmark. 'Telecom Demand', period: 1/5/05-31/12/05 (Robin Mansell)
  • International Development Research Centre (IDRC Canada). Telecom Demand: Measures for Improving Affordability with LIRNE.net, £25,000, period: 01/01/2005 - 31/12/2005 (Robin Mansell)
  • ICSTIS, Vodafone, OFCOM, BT, BBC, BBFC, AOL. ICSTIS - Harm and Offence Literature Review, period: 03/05-12/05 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • OFCOM. UK Children Go Online Emerging Opportunities and Danger, period 20/01/05-30/04/05 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • British Academy Small Research Grant. When News Became New, budget of £4,244; period: 01/01/2005-15/2005 (Terhi Rantanen)

2004

  • Ofcom. The Role of Advertising on Children's Food Choice: A Literature Review, £3,500; period: 01/02/2004- 30/04/ 2004 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • Nuffield Foundation. 'Political Advertising in Comparative Perspective', budget of £5,108, period 1/03/2004-31/12/2004 (Margaret Scammell)
  • European Commission. (IREN - International Radio Research Network) budget of £70,203; period: 01/03/2004 to 31/08/2006 (P. Lewis), budget of £5,108; period: 01/03/2004-31/12/2004 (Margaret Scammell)
  • Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Limited. 'Innovation Research Programme', period: 1/12/04-30/11/09 (Robin Mansell)
  • Ofcom. The Relation between Advertising and Children's Food Choice: Analysis of Survey Data, £3,100, period: 01/06/2004-30/07/2004 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. 'Social Tapestries', budget of £10,000; period: 01/05/2004-31/03/2005 (Roger Silverstone and Giles Lane)
  • Ofcom. Media Literacy: A review of the literature on UK adults, £5,000; period: 01/10/2004-31/12/2004 (Sonia Livingstone)

2003

  • ESRC (with co-funding from AOL, BSC, ITC, Citizens Online): ' UK Children Go Online', budget of £261,000, period 25/04/2003 - 24/04/2005 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • Department of Trade and Industry, Office of Science and Technology. Cyber Trust and Crime Prevention Project, Foresight Programme, £28,600, period 01/04/2003-30/06/2004 (Robin Mansell)
  • Department of Trade & Industry. 'Urban Tapestries', budget of £9,987, period: 01/05/2003-31/01/2004 (Roger Silverstone and Giles Lane)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 'Media Consumption and the Future of Public Connection', budget of £135,000, period: 01/10/2003 - 31/03/2006 (Nick Couldry and Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Commission. 'Marie Curie Fellowships - FUTURUM', period: 1/10/03-30/09/05 (Robin Mansell)
  • European Commission. 'Digital Business Ecosystems(DBE)', budget of £404,000, period: 01/11/2003 - 31/1/2007 (Paolo Dini)
  • European Commission. 'New Media and Everyday Life in Europe', period: 1/1/03-31/12/05 (Roger Silverstone)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 'ICT & Transformative Social Change', period: 1/01/03-31/03/04 (Robin Mansell)

2002

  • University of Freiburg. 'Digital Dialogues', period: 01/01/02-03/12/03 (Peter Lewis)
  • Department for International Development. 'Evaluation of Alternative Community Media'; budget of £24,900; period 06/02/2002-30/06/2002 (D. Slater & Peter Lewis)
  • Broadcasting Standards Commission. Media: Literacy: Literature Review , budget of £3,000; period: 01/04/2002-30/06/2002 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • Cabinet Office: 'Electronic Networking'; budget of £29,345; period: 10/06/2002-09/08/2002 (Robin Mansell)
  • European Commission. 'Growth Nodes in Knowledge Based Europe'; budget of £40,605; period: 01/07/2002-30/06/2003 (Robin Mansell)

2001

  • University of Brighton. 'Radio Teaching and Learning'; budget of £4,821; period: 01/01/2001-31/12/2001 (Peter Lewis)
  • Department for International Development. 'e-commerce for Developing Countries'; budget of £195,683; period: 01/01/2001-31/12/2002 (Robin Mansell)
  • University of Sussex. 'Digital Revolution'; budget of £35,000; period: 01/03/2001-31/12/2003 (Robin Mansell)
  • Commonwealth Secretariat. 'Information Technology'; budget of £4,256; period: 01/03/2001-31/03/2001 (Robin Mansell)
  • National Children's Bureau. 'Children and the Internet', budget of £5,000; period: 15/11/2001-28/02/2002 (Sonia Livingstone)

1995-2000

  • European Commission. European Media (EMTEL)'; budget of £805,103; period: 01/05/2000-30/04/2003 (Roger Silverstone)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 'The Radio Research Project', period: 01/03/99-28/02/02 (Peter Lewis)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 'Increasing Public Understanding of Radio Medium'; budget of £93,111; period: 01/03/1999-28/02/2002 (Peter Lewis)
  • British Telecom. 'Families and the Internet', budget of £108,650; period: 01/09/1999-30/06/2001 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Commission. 'Educational Pathways for Adult Learners'; budget of £6,672; period: 01/09/1998-31/08/1999 (Sonia Livingstone)
  • European Commission. 'ESF: 'European Comparative Study': period: 01/01/97-31/12/00 (Sonia Livingstone)

Multi-funded Projects:

  • 'A 12-Nation European Comparison of Children’s Changing Media Environment'. Total Budget: £84,600; Period: 1997-2000. (Sonia Livingstone) Funders: European Commission (£35.6k); European Science Foundation (£19k); European Parliament (£30k)
  • 'Children, Young People and the Changing Media Environment'. Total Budget: £300k; Period 1995-1999. (Sonia Livingstone) Funders: BBC (£90k); Leverhulme Trust (£66.3k); British Telecoms plc(£60k); Advertising Association (£7k); Broadcasting Standards Commission (£20k); Yorkshire/Tyne-Tees/ITVA (£25k); Independent Television Commission (£32k)

Honours

  • Robin Mansell was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award for Academic Achievement from Simon Fraser University (2021). More here.
  • Robin Mansellwas awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland (2020). More here.
  • Lilie Chouliaraki was made an ICA Fellow by the International Communication Association (ICA), in recognition of distinguished scholarly contributions to the broad field of communication (2020). More here.
  • Robin Mansellreceived the 2020 C. Edwin Baker Award for the Advancement of Scholarship on Media, Markets and Democracy (2020). More here.
  • Sonia Livingstone received an award for Distinguished Contribution to Social Psychology from the British Psychological Society (2020). More here.
  • Sarah Banet-Weiser was made an ICA Fellow by the International Communication Association (ICA), in recognition of distinguished scholarly contributions to the broad field of communication (2019). More here.
  • Sonia Livingstone was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Univeristy of Copenhagen, Denmark (2018). More here.
  • Robin Mansellwas awarded the Distinguished Contribution Award, International Association for Media and Communications Research (IAMCR) (2017). More here.
  • Sonia Livingstone was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Basque Country (2017). More here.
  • Nick Couldry was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Södertörn University, Sweden (2015). More here.
  • Sonia Livingstone was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), France (2015). More here.
  • Sonia Livingstone was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Montreal, Canada (2014).
  • Sonia Livingstone was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to children and child internet safety (2014).

Prizes

Special Appointments

  • Sonia Livingstone was appointed specialist adviser to the House of Lords Communications Committee inquiry into children and the internet (2016). More here.
  • Charlie Beckett was appointed as special adviser on broadcasting to the House of Commons select committee for culture, media and sport (2015). More here.
  • Robin Mansell was appointed Interim Deputy Director and Provost of LSE (2015-16).
  • Nick Couldry and Shani Orgad were appointed as Commissioners for the Gender, Media and Culture section of the LSE Commission on Gender, Inequality and Power (2015). More here.