Leyla holds a Master’s degree (MSc) in Science and Technology Policy and Management from Manchester Business School and an MA in Intercultural Conflict Management from Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin. Her keen interest in intercultural understanding led to a PhD research project that examined the role of media in intercultural communication/international relations.

Thesis: The Good, the Bad, and the MadSubtitle:Representations of Iran(ians) in Mainstream European News Sites 

ABSTRACT

What role do media play in promoting or impeding intercultural understanding and international relations in times of conflict? With this question in mind, Leyla's research focuses on Iran's coverage in three mainstream European media during a period marked by tensions at home and abroad. Adopting Critical Discourse Analysis as theory and method, the study examines articles published on selected British, French, and German news sites juxtaposed with their attached comments, with the aim of contributing to scholarly work on cross-national comparative examination of foreign news coverage and 'top-down' Othering in journalistic texts in addition to incorporating an investigation into non-institutional discourse and 'bottom-up' Self/Other representations in comment sections.