Dr Łukasz Szulc
PhD, SFHEA
Department of Sociological Studies
Lecturer in Digital Media and Society
(He/him)
+44 114 222 6416
Full contact details
Department of Sociological Studies
Elmfield Building
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 2TU
- Profile
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Łukasz joined the Department in 2018 as a Lecturer in Digital Media and Society. He defended his PhD on nationalism and transnationalism in queer digital cultures in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Antwerp in 2015.
He is a recipient of European Commission’s Marie Curie Individual Fellowship for the project on queer migrant identities and social media profiles, which he has conducted in the Media and Communications Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Łukasz has been actively involved in the International Communication Association. He acted as the association’s board member and co-chair of the LGBTQ Interest Group (2017-2021), after serving as the group’s Student and Early Career Representative between 2016 and 2017.
Łukasz sits on editorial boards of three journals: International Journal of Communication (2019-), International Journal of Cultural Studies (2020-) and Communication, Culture and Critique (2020-), and he acts as an area editor for Oxford Bibliographies in Communication (in the area of gender and communication).
- Research interests
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Łukasz’s work is dedicated to cultural and critical media studies which investigate the role of media in everyday life. He has been particularly interested in the intersections of queer, national and transnational identities in the context of globalisation and digital media.
He usually discusses those topics from the perspective of Central and Eastern European countries, particularly Poland, advocating internationalisation and de-westernisation of media studies.
His current research project looks into the transformations of identity in the digital media landscape of the early XXI century, examining self-presentation practices of Polish LGBTQs in the UK.
Research areas:
- Cultural and critical media studies
- Digital media and identity
- Queer theory and LGBTQ studies
- Nationalism and transnationalism
- Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland
- Qualitative research methods
- Publications
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Books
- Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland. Springer International Publishing.
Edited books
- LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe. New York: Routledge.
Journal articles
- Book Review: Brady Robards and Sîan Lincoln, Growing up on Facebook. Sociology. View this article in WRRO
- Open Science, Closed Doors? Countering Marginalization through an Agenda for Ethical, Inclusive Research in Communication. Journal of Communication.
- Uncanny Europe and Protective Europeanness: When European Identity Becomes a Queerly Viable Option. Sociology, 003803852110241-003803852110241.
- Digital Gender Disidentifications: Beyond the Subversion Versus Hegemony Dichotomy and Toward Everyday Gender Practices. International Journal of Communication, 14, 5436-5454.
- Profiles, Identities, Data: Making Abundant and Anchored Selves in a Platform Society. Communication Theory, 29(3), 257-276. View this article in WRRO
- Navigating online selves : social, cultural, and material contexts of social media use by diasporic gay men. Social Media + Society, 2(4). View this article in WRRO
- Domesticating the nation online: Banal nationalism on LGBTQ websites in Poland and Turkey. Sexualities, 19(3), 304-327.
- Homonationalism and Western progressive narrative: locating ‘conservative heartlands’ withZenne Dancer(2012) and its Western reviews. Asian Journal of Communication, 25(6), 551-566.
- Banal nationalism and queers online: Enforcing and resisting cultural meanings of .tr. New Media & Society, 17(9), 1530-1546.
- The internet and sexual identity formation: Comparing Internet use before and after coming out. Communications, 38(4).
- From queer to gay to Queer.pl: The names we dare to speak in Poland. Lambda Nordica, 17(4), 65-98.
Chapters
- Pink Press In Ross K, Bachmann I, Cardo V, Moorti S & Scarcelli CM (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (pp. 1-12). Wiley
- Queer Globalization and the Media In Ross K, Bachmann I, Cardo V, Moorti S & Scarcelli CM (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (pp. 1-9). Wiley
- Queer Migrants and Digital
Culture, The SAGE Handbook of Media and Migration (pp. 220-232). SAGE Publications Ltd
- Queer Migration and Digital Media In Moy P (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies: Communication Oxford University Press
- Banal Nationalism in the Internet Age: Rethinking the Relationship Between Nations, Nationalisms and the Media, Everyday Nationhood (pp. 53-74). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Queer in Poland: Under construction In Downing L & Gillett R (Ed.), Queer in Europe: Contemporary Case Studies (pp. 159-172).
Book reviews
- Book review : Feeling Normal: Sexuality and Media Criticism in the Digital Age by F. Hollis Griffin. Television & New Media. View this article in WRRO
- Krzysztof Tomasik, Gejerel: Mniejszości Seksualne w PRL-u. Sexualities, 18(8), 1018-1019.
- LGBT Identity and Online New Media. International Journal of Communication, 8, 2927-2931.
- Mobile Cultures: New Media in Queer Asia. International Journal of Communication, 8, 2927-2931.
- Queer Online: Media, Technology & Sexuality. International Journal of Communication, 8, 2927-2931.
Reports
- LGBTQ #PolesinUK: Tożsamość, Migracja i Media Społecznościowe View this article in WRRO
- Queer #PolesinUK: Identity, Migration and Social Media View this article in WRRO
Other
- Rainbow Europe: Polish LGBTQs in the UK readily identify as European.
- Queer and over here: Polish migrants stay on despite Brexit, LSE Blogs.
- How LGBT rights became a key battleground in Poland’s election, LSE Blogs.
- Our Profile(d) Selves: How social media platforms use data to tell us who we should be, LSE Blogs.
- Was Homosexuality Illegal in Communist Europe?, Notches Blog.
- How underground magazines helped liberate gay men in the Cold War, PinkNews.
- The Intimate (Self-)Regulation of Big Tech, LSE Blogs.
- The New Polish Government and ‘Gender Ideology’, Notches Blog.
- Operation Hyacinth and Poland’s Pink Files, Notches Blog.
- Histories of Sexualities in Central and Eastern Europe, Notches Blog.
- Conchita’s Europe: Eurovision, homonationalism and the politics of sexuality, Notches Blog.
- What will .GAY stand for?, Notches Blog.
- Making the Polish Stonewall, Notches Blog.
- Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland. Springer International Publishing.
- Grants
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Facelook: Identity Management on Social Media by Diasporic LGBTQs, European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, Principal Investigator, London School of Economics and Political Sciences (UK), 2016-2019 (approx. €195,500)
Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland: Cross-Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Postdoctoral Fellowship, Principal Investigator, University of Antwerp (Belgium), 2015-2016 (approx. €110,000)
(Trans)national Queers Online: An Analysis of LGBTQ Websites in Poland and Turkey, University Research Fund (BOF), Doctoral Fellowship, Principal Investigator, University of Antwerp (Belgium), 2010-2014 (approx. €170,000)
- Teaching activities
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Łukasz is an MA Digital Media and Society Programme Leader and he teaches modules for BA and MA programmes in Digital Media and Society. He currently teaches:
- Perspectives on Digital Society (MA)
- Queer Theory and the Media (BA)
Previously, Łukasz also taught ‘Digital Identities’ and ‘Social Media, Data and Society’ in the department as well as ‘The Audience in Media and Communications’ and ‘Media, Technology and Everyday Life’ in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
He was awarded the Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) in 2019.
- PhD Students
Łukasz is currently supervising two PhD students:
- Julin Huang, rural influencers on short-video platforms (co-supervised with Helen Kennedy)
- Sylvia McCheyne, transgender movement in the UK (co-supervised with Sally Hines)