Dr Preeti Raghunath (she/her)
Department of Sociological Studies
Lecturer in Digital Media and Society
Co-Lead, STeMiS Research Theme
International Officer, Digital Media and Society programmes
Fellow, Institute for Global Sustainable Development
Co-Lead, Interest Group on Data-driven Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Shef.AI
Full contact details
Department of Sociological Studies
Floor C
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Preeti Raghunath joined the Department of Sociological Studies in 2023 as a Lecturer in Digital Media and Society. Prior to joining the University of Sheffield, she was a Lecturer in Communication and Media at Monash University, Malaysia. Preeti holds a PhD in Communication (2019) from the University of Hyderabad and a Masters in International Relations and Politics (2011) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, both in India. Before joining academia, Preeti worked as a print and television journalist, in corporate communications and as a researcher.
- Research interests
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Preeti has conducted theoretical and empirical research in the field of global media policy over the last decade. Her first large-scale research project was for her PhD (2019), where she conceptualised and conducted a policy ethnography across Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and Bangladesh, drawing on over a 100 interviews and informal conversations. This work is now available as Community Radio Policies in South Asia: A Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). The book conceptualises the theoretical approach of Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach to the study of media policy and presents an expansive critical policy ethnography conducted in South Asia. She has since developed the framework further to delve into Sustainable Media/Technology Governance.
Preeti has been involved in a few research projects after her PhD. These include conceptualising and writing about Hated Speech and the Costs of Freedom in India (2022). Further, as part of a multi-country team, she researched for and co-authored Gender-sensitive AI Policy in Southeast Asia (2023). From 2021 to 2023, she was a Country Expert (India) for the multi-country European Research Council-funded Bottom-up Initiatives and Anti-Corruption Technologies (BIT-ACT) project housed at the University of Bologna, Italy.
She is currently studying the actors, visions, infrastructures, articulations and applications that propel AI-Data policies and practices in India and beyond, with a focus on ecology and society. Towards this, she continues to draw on the Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach and Sustainable Media/Technology Governance.
- Publications
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Books
- Community Radio Policies in South Asia A Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach. Springer Nature.
Journal articles
- Exploring datafied practices, imaginaries and digital state assemblages in South and South East Asia. Journal of Digital Media & Policy, 15(3), 309-324.
- Critical Data Governance: A Southern Standpoint to the study and practice of data. Technology and Regulation, 37-46.
- (Re)Iterations, transgressions, recognition: Politics and practices of media policies in South Asia. Journal of Digital Media & Policy, 13(1), 3-8.
- Editorial. Revue Neurologique, 178(1-2), 3-3.
- Airing imperium: A historiography of radio governance in South Asia. Global Media and Communication, 18(1), 49-66.
- Book review: Hilde Van den Bulck, Manuel Puppis, Karen Donders, Leo Van Audenhove (eds). The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 30(1), 131-135.
- The unfinished business ofNepal’s community radio policy. Media Asia, 41(1), 22-23.
- Decolonizing Open Science: Southern Interventions. Journal of Communication.
Chapters
- Opening Up the Black Box of Communication Governance in South Asia: Critical Policy Ethnography as Methodology In Padovani C, Wavre V, Hintz A, Goggin G & Iosifidis P (Ed.), Global Communication Governance at the Crossroads Palgrave Macmillan
- Deliberation as pedagogy: gender, intersectionality, and journalism Education in India In Mutsvairo B, Bebawi S & Borges-Rey E (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Journalism in the Global South (pp. 111-120). Routledge View this article in WRRO
- Deliberation as Pedagogy, The Routledge Companion to Journalism in the Global South (pp. 111-120). Routledge
- Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach: Media Policy Studies from South Asia In Ganter SA & Badr H (Ed.), Media Governance
A Cosmopolitan Critique Palgrave Macmillan
Reports
- Artificial Intelligence and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in South-east Asia
- Gender-sensitive Artificial Intelligence Policy in Southeast Asia
Other
- Translating experience into enunciation on conducting a policy ethnography in south asia: A researcher reflects on what it means to translate policy ethnography into action.. Economic and Political Weekly, 56(22), 63-64.
Preprints
- Community Radio Policies in South Asia A Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach. Springer Nature.
- Research group
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Preeti co-leads the STeMiS research theme at the Department. Preeti convenes a reading group on the Digital and Data Economy at the Digital Society Network at the Faculty of Social Sciences. She is a Fellow with the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) and Co-Lead of the interest group on Data-driven Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Shef.AI, convened by the Centre for Machine Intelligence at the University.
Postgraduate supervision
Preeti welcomes enquiries for PhD supervision from candidates interested in exploring the global AI and data economy, especially policies and practices in and of countries in the Global South.
- Grants
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Preeti has secured grants and consultancies with entities like UN University in Macau (for research projects funded by ITU and UN Women), Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), and sub-grants from the Open Society Foundation (OSF), Ford Foundation and Association for Progressive Communications (APC). She has received travel grants from scholarly associations like IAMCR and IPPA to present papers at their annual conferences. She was the recipient of the Best Paper Award from the Communication Technology and Policy section at IAMCR 2018. Here are details of funded research projects she has pursued after her PhD:
- Co-Investigator – Industry SEED Project with Action Lab, Monash University, Australia - Volunteer-driven governance of community platforms in Sri Lanka (2023-24)
- Researcher – United Nations University, Macau for two projects: Gender and AI in Southeast Asia, funded by ITU and Government of Australia; and AI and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda in Southeast Asia, funded by UN Women (2022-2023)
- Country Expert, India – Bottom-up Initiatives and Anti-Corruption Technologies: How Citizens use ICTs to Fight Corruption (BIT-ACT), University of Bologna, Italy (2021-2023)
- PI – ‘Hated Speech’ and the Costs of Freedom in India, Grant by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) (2021-2022)
- Teaching activities
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Preeti teaches the following modules for the academic year 2024-25:
- SCS6078 Perspectives on Digital Society (MA DMS)
- SCS3040 Digital Media Work Placement (BA DMS)
- SCS21002 Social Research Design and Methods (BA DMS)
- SCS364 Global Data Industries (BA DMS) - Preeti has received support from the Department Teaching and Learning Enhancement budget towards developing this module.
- Professional activities and memberships
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Preeti is Co-Editor of the Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business book series (2024-2028). She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Digital Media and Policy (Intellect).
Preeti recently concluded her term as a Vice-Chair of the Global Media Policy Working Group of the IAMCR (2020-2024).
- Partnerships, engagement and impact
Preeti was instrumental in developing inter-institutional partnerships for research cooperation between Monash University, Malaysia and United Nations University, Macau. Her research report ‘Hated Speech and the Costs of Freedom in India’ funded by the Association for Progressive Communications, is now part of Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression curriculum. She was also part of a national consultation with the Government of India on media policy in 2017.