Julie Uldam
Associate Professor
About
Primary research areas
My research explores the relationship between digital media and civic engagement from three avenues of enquiry:
(1) challenges to political contestation,
(2) corporate practices of managing visibility and legitimacy, and
(3) how a shift of responsibility to civil society can be made possible in sustainable ways.
My research interests began with social movements' uses of social media in the UK and have centred on how visibility enables and constrains democratic engagement, how power operates through digital communication, and how corporations and social movements negotiate responsibility in different political contexts, especially around environmental and social sustainability.
Publications
See all publicationsFebruary 2025
Imagining Change in Crisis
Climate Imaginaries in Activist Agenda-setting
Go to publication2025
Faking, Optimising and Conceding to Power
Social Movement Understandings of Social Media Power
Go to publicationRecent research projects
Imagining Digital Power and the Power of Digital Imagination in Business and Society Encounters (DIGIBASE)
The project examines how imagination about digital media shapes relations between multinational companies and social movement organisations. At a time of climate crisis and increasing demands for corporate responsibility, digital platforms have often been seen as democratising spaces for accountability. Yet scandals around data use and surveillance have fuelled mistrust, while fears of criticism and retaliation have contributed to polarisation. The project explores how imaginaries shape uses of digital media in defining and contesting corporate responsibility.