Dr Łukasz Szulc (he/him) is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture and co-director of the Centre for Digital Humanities, Cultures and Media at the University of Manchester. He specializes in critical and cultural studies of digital media at the intersections of gender, sexuality and transnationalism, currently working on dating apps and dating cultures. Łukasz sat on the board of directors at the International Communication Association (ICA) and was a co-chair of ICA’s LGBTQ Studies interest group between 2017 and 2021. His publications received multiple prizes, for example by the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), the British Association for Slavonic & East European Studies (BASEES) and the International Communication Association. Łukasz has been invited to give multiple keynotes and talks, including at Harvard University in the US, the University of British Colombia in Canada, the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, the University of Siegen in Germany, the University of Warsaw in Poland, the European University Institute in Italy and UCL, LSE and the University of Sussex in the UK. He is a member of the editorial boards at the International Journal of Cultural Studies, International Journal of Communication, and Communication, Culture & Critique.

Employment and Education

Łukasz has more than a decade of experience in researching and teaching about digital media, culture and society at universities in Poland, Belgium and the UK:

• Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture (University of Manchester, 2022-)
• Lecturer in Digital Media and Society (University of Sheffield, 2018-2022)
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow (London School of Economics and Political Science, 2017-2019)
• Research Foundation Flanders Fellow (University of Antwerp, 2015-2017)
• PhD in Media and Communications (University of Antwerp, 2010-2015)
• BA and MA in Journalism and Communication (Jagiellonian University, 2004-2009)

Research Grants

• Queer #PolesinUK: Identity, Migration and Social Media, EU Marie Curie Individual Fellowship for postdoctoral research conducted at London School of Economics, UK, total budget: €195,454.80
• Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland: Cross Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines, Postdoctoral Fellowship of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) conducted at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, total budget: €108,916.25
• (Trans)national Queers Online: An analysis of LGBTQ websites in Poland and Turkey, University Research Fund’s Doctoral Fellowship (BOF) conducted at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, total budget: €172,000.00

Research Impact

Łukasz regularly engages with the general public. To date, he has published 13 blog posts (e.g. on LSE Media Policy Blog and LSE Impact Blog), has been interviewed by such popular media as BBC Radio 4, Sky News and Slate, and his research was featured in popular outlets around the world (e.g. in UK, US, Poland, Argentina and Brazil). He also organised multiple events (e.g. Polaktastic parties for queer migrants in London and Sheffield) and collaborated with many organisations, including Migration Matters Festival in the UK, Lambda Warsaw and Böll Foundation in Poland, and Háttér Archive and Library in Hungary.

Teaching

Łukasz has been leading the development of new BA and MA programmes in Digital Media, Culture and Society at the University of Manchester and currently acts as the Programme Director for the BA Digital Media, Culture and Society. In the past, he led the MA programme in Digital Media and Society at the University of Sheffield and taught several modules about digital media as well as media, gender and sexuality, including:

• Researching in the Digital Age I (BA, module co-developer and co-leader, University of Manchester, 2024-)
• Social Media, Platforms and Apps (MA, module developer and leader, University of Manchester, 2023-)
• Introduction to Digital Media (MA, module co-developer and co-leader, University of Manchester, 2023-2024)
• Decoding Inequality: Reimagining Digital Culture (BA, module co-leader, University of Manchester, 2022-2023)
• Queer Theory and the Media (BA, module developer and leader, University of Sheffield, 2019-2022)
• Perspectives on Digital Society (MA, module leader, University of Sheffield, 2018-2022)
• Digital Identities (MA, seminar leader, University of Sheffield, 2018-2019)
• Social Media, Data and Society (MA, seminar leader, University of Sheffield, 2018-2019)
• The Audience in Media and Communications (MA, seminar leader, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2017-2018)
• Media, Technology and Everyday Life (MA, seminar leader, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2017-2018)

Łukasz was awarded the Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) in 2019 after receiving AFHEA in 2018. He is currently co-supervising (with Professor Helen Kennedy) one PhD student, Julin Huang, at the University of Sheffield.