Kate Coyer

Central European University

Kate Coyer is Director of the Civil Society and Technology Project for the Center for Media, Data and Society in the School of Public Policy at the Central European University. Her research examines the complexities of media practice and policy; digital rights advocacy and the social uses of technologies; media development and communication for social change; the opportunities and challenges of emerging technologies as well as the resilience of ‘old’ mediums like radio. Kate holds a PhD in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths College, University of London and held a post doctoral research fellowship with the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania where she is also an affiliate. She has taught master and undergraduate level courses at CEU, Goldsmiths and University of Pennsylvania.

Currently, Kate leads two research projects for the Center, The first is a Virtual Center of Excellence for Research in Violent Online Political Extremism (VOX-Pol), a five year project supported by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme Network lead by Dublin City University. The project goal is to assess the role of internet companies, mobile operators and social media platforms in responding to violent online political extremism and to consider the complexities of the relationship between technology, free expression, and policy that lie at the heart of the relationship between global security and human rights. She also leads the  Creative Approaches to Living Cultural Archives (CAPTCHA) project for the Center, a two year project run by Radio Halle, where she researches digital tools and technologies for open access multi-media exchange platforms for community media.

She is co-author of the Alternative Media Handbook and is a regular public speaker and trainer on community media, communication rights and policy advocacy, social media and activism, and media freedom in central and eastern Europe. A media producer and communication rights advocate, Kate has helped build community radio stations worldwide with the Prometheus Radio Project. She has published numerous articles including studies of community media policy for Internews’ Community Media Sustainability Guide, as well as chapters in The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy (ed. Mansell and Raboy), and Media Freedom and Pluralism (ed. Klimkiewicz).

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