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Reaction(ary) Media

International Symposium — Reaction(ary) Media: Situating, Influencers, Audiences, and Antagonisms.


The UCD School of Information and Communication Studies and the (opens in a new window)UCD Centre for Digital Policy will host an international symposium—Reaction(ary) Media: Situating, Influencers, Audiences, and Antagonisms—at UCD’s Belfield campus on Thursday 29 May 2025 (09:00-17:30).

The event—which is funded by the (opens in a new window)National University of Ireland, (opens in a new window)Research Ireland, and the (opens in a new window)UCD Centre for Digital Policy—aims to create dialogue between academics, policymakers, and community stakeholders who are interested in exploring the dynamics of audience engagement with reactionary media.

This is a topic of growing relevance. Influential figures now operate within a platformised media ecosystem that privileges outrage and toxicity, leveraging new economic apparatuses rooted in the propagation of a range of racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQIA+ attitudes and agendas. At the same time, audiences actively participate in these spaces, whether through new forms of community building in response to the marginalisation of reactionary viewpoints or through fannish positioning in the context of new narrative practices and so-called cancel culture—often in ways that are either combative or expressly confrontational. This interplay of influencers, audiences, and antagonisms has broad implications for the creation of effective digital policy and the conduct of impactful research.

Convened by (opens in a new window)Anthony Kelly (University College Dublin), the symposium will begin to address these matters with a keynote address delivered by (opens in a new window)Mel Stanfill (University of Central Florida), author of Fandom is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture. Alongside the keynote, the day will feature a paper panel focusing on gender, identity, and online networks; a second paper panel on audiences, texts, and political affects; a policy roundtable focusing on audience engagement with reactionary media; and, finally, a concluding panel discussion on future directions for the study of reactionary media. All sessions will be chaired by representatives from the UCD Centre for Digital Policy.

Scheduled speakers include:
- Catherine Baker (Dublin City University)
- Jonathan Collins (Charles University)
- Eileen Culloty (European Digital Media Observatory)
- Simone Driessen (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
- Alan Finlayson (University of East Anglia)
- Marina Frid (University College Dublin)
- Debbie Ging (Dublin City University)
- Craig Haslop (University of Liverpool)
- Kathryn Claire Higgins (Goldsmiths, University of London)
- Thomas Hughes (Appeals Centre Europe)
- Rhona Jamieson (University College Dublin)
- Gillian Kennedy (European Movement Ireland)
- Edel McGinley (Hope and Courage Collective)
- Shane Murphy (Dublin City University)
- Rosana Pinheiro-Machado (University College Dublin)
- Johnny Ryan (ICCL Enforce)
- Gavan Titley (Maynooth University)

The explicit goal of the symposium is to create a space for open and collaborative dialogue among participants from a range of disciplinary and professional perspectives who represent a variety of career stages. Significant space will be set aside for audience questions and discussion.

Registration for the event is free, and lunch will be provided. Spaces are limited, however, so please email the symposium convenor, Anthony Kelly (anthony.kelly@ucd.ie), if you would like to register.

Registration will close on Wednesday 14 May 2025. Please get in touch before then if you hope to join. Venue details will be shared with registered attendees in advance of the event.

Anthony Kelly is a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow in the UCD School of Information and Communication Studies and a member of the UCD Centre for Digital Policy.
Funding for this event is provided by a National University of Ireland Grant for Early Career Academics, a Research Ireland Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the UCD Centre for Digital Policy.

Symposium Schedule

09:00-09:30
Tea/Coffee, Pastries, and Registration

09:30-09:45
Welcome

Anthony Kelly (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin)

Eugenia Siapera (Professor of Digital Technology, Policy, and Society, School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin; Co-Director, UCD Centre for Digital Policy)

09:45-11:00
Keynote Address

Reactionary backlash from superheroes to social justice: Making sense of culture wars through fan studies
Mel Stanfill (Associate Professor, Texts and Technology Program and Department of English, University of Central Florida)

Chair: Kylie Jarrett (Professor of Information and Communication Studies, School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin)

11:00-11:15
Tea/Coffee Break

11:15-12:45
Gender, Identity, and Online Networks

Reactionary rationality: The use of science within far and reactionary right online ecosystems
Catherine Baker (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities, Dublin City University)

Performing entrepreneurship on social media: Self-marketing, political networks, and Brazilian female workers
Marina Frid (Research Fellow, School of Geography, University College Dublin; Associate Director, Digital Economy and Extreme Politics Lab)

Ideological 'collabs': Mapping the masculinities and affectivities of the misogyny influencer ecosystem
Craig Haslop (Senior Lecturer in Media, Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool)

Victimhood, victimcould, and the hypothetical injuries of far-Right masculinity
Kathryn Claire Higgins (Lecturer in Global Digital Politics, Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London)

Chair: Páraic Kerrigan (Assistant Professor and Deputy Head of School, School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin)

12:45-13:45
Lunch

13:45-15:15
Audiences, Texts, and Political Affects

Decentralized sociality: A new lens on far-right behavioural dynamics and the alt-tech ecosystem
Jonathan Collins (PhD Candidate, Department of Security Studies, Charles University)

#WeGotYou?! Examining believability, cancel culture, & the reactionary turn in fandom through the Nick Carter case
Simone Driessen (Assistant Professor in Media & Popular Culture, Arts & Culture Department, Erasmus
University Rotterdam)

Neoreaction blogs and worldbuilding: Narratives of utopia and apocalypse
Rhona Jamieson (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, School of English, Drama & Film, University
College Dublin)

Interviewing incels: An audience-centred perspective of online radicalisation
Shane Murphy (Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society, Dublin City University)

Chair: Sarah Anne Dunne (Postdoctoral Research Assistant, UCD Centre for Digital Policy)

15:15-15:30
Tea/Coffee Break

15:30-16:25
Policy Roundtable: Audience Engagement with Reactionary Media as a Policy Concern

Eileen Culloty (Assistant Professor and Deputy Director, Institute for Future Media,
Democracy and Society, Dublin City University; Ireland Hub Coordinator, European Digital Media Observatory)

Thomas Hughes (Chief Executive Officer, Appeals Centre Europe)

Gillian Kennedy (Policy and Research Manager, European Movement Ireland)

Edel McGinley (Executive Director, Hope and Courage Collective)

Johnny Ryan (Director, ICCL Enforce)

Chair: Eugenia Siapera (Professor of Digital Technology, Policy, and Society, School of
Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin; Co-Director, UCD Centre for Digital Policy)

16:25-16:30
Comfort Break

16:30-17:25
Panel Discussion: Future Directions for the Study of Reactionary Media

Alan Finlayson (Professor of Political and Social Theory, School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies, University of East Anglia)

Debbie Ging (Professor of Digital Media and Gender, School of Communications, Dublin City University)

Rosana Pinheiro-Machado (Professor of Global Studies, School of Geography, University College Dublin; Director, Digital Economy and Extreme Politics Lab)

Gavan Titley (Professor, Department of Media Studies, Maynooth University)

Chair: Anthony Kelly (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin)

17:25-17:30
Wrap-up and Farewell

UCD School of Information and Communication Studies

Newman Building, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
T: +353 1 716 8360