𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𖥧𖡼

°˖✿˚ ˖⋆Hi! ˖⋆˚✿˖°

My name is Ana Jovanovic-Harrington. I am a PhD candidate at Dublin City University School of Communications, set to graduate in 2026.

˚ʚ👩🏻‍💻📓✍🏻💡ɞ˚

My research explores the relationship between media and politics, specifically in the context of regime changes from democracy to autocracy. The area of my interest is Central and Southern Eastern Europe, and the period is from 2010 and onwards.

˚ʚ👩🏻‍🎓🏫📑🎒ɞ˚

I also hold a joint master’s degree in political science from the University of Bologna and Zagreb (MIREES) and a bachelor’s degree in French language and literature from the University of Sarajevo. Additionally, I was a part of the European Academy of Diplomacy Young Diplomats 2018/2019 cohort, on a Casimir Pulaski Scholarship, where I got a specialisation certificate in International Security. Plus, I attended the South-Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance youth school 2018/2019, and the following European internet governance events as a SEEDIG fellow.

˚ʚ˚👩🏻‍🏫💼📚🤓ɞ˚

Committed to education beyond traditional settings, I have also been working as a part-time civil servant in Ireland since 2023 at the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education & Training Board, where she design and deliver courses that equip vulnerable communities with skills to combat online misinformation and navigate digital spaces safely. Moreover, I have been an active member of Humanity in Action in my native Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2016, after completing the John Lewis Fellowship. Since 2022, I have been supervising undergraduate research-based policy projects aimed at boosting civic engagement and active democratic participation. In short, I am passionate about blending activism and academia, which is why I focus on under-researched topics whose operationalisation is essential for building democratic resilience.

˚ʚ💻🌐⚙️🔌ɞ˚

My research deals broadly with changes to media systems that parallel regime change to autocracy. In Central and South Eastern Europe these changes were most evident from 2010 and onwards. Therefore, although based on two established streams of literature, media systems framework and regime change, my research also intersects with the new and growing field of digital authoritarianism.

The adaptability and flexibility of modern autocracies are arguably most visible in the way they use digital spaces. In the past, autocracies would officially ban and restrict access to information. Moreover, by default, on the Internet, national actors cannot dictate all content present. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume modern autocracies would officially restrict access to the Internet or ban it altogether. Yet, counterintuitively, that is not the case in most modern autocracies. Instead, autocratic incumbents found ways to use the digital space to their advantage.

˚ʚ👩🏻‍💻ɞ˚ Currently working on:

In the following months, I plan to publish parts of my thesis as papers, delving into specific tactics modern autocrats use in the digital sphere. First, in cooperation with my supervisor, Dr. Alessio Cornia, I am working on a paper to operationalise and situate the use of Botnet malware and more sophisticated networks of coordinated inauthentic behaviour.

The second draft in progress focuses on the intersection of the physical and digital, describing the new (and old in a way) tactic of incumbents using state funds and connections to drive undesirable broadband providers out of business. However, as this is an ongoing process, it is unclear what happens once their goal is achieved.

Conferences & Events

April 2024

• Attending the DCU Staff workshop: MS Excel 2016 (intermediate) on the 10th of April.
• Attending the DCU Media research and engagement workshop on the 11th of April.

March 2024

• Attended, and presented at International Communication Association Regional Conference Human Tech Transition in Warsaw, Poland. Received amazing feedback, and met some lovely people! ♡
• Submitted a co-authored paper for the Decrypting Digital Authoritarianism conference, set to take place in October in Florance, Italy. Fingers crossed!🍀
• Launched this website on the 30.03.2024. as a part of my application for the new CITAP cohort. Fingers crossed!🍀

Let’s keep in touch

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-ˏˋ⋆ ana.jovanovicharrington2@mail.dcu.ie ⋆ˊˎ-

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Extracurriculars

In my spare time, I am either gaming, thrifting, or planning my next trip (on a budget). You can follow these (mis)adventures on my TikTok, which I am trying to use as a visual diary. While I do not guarantee consistency with posting, reaching out in the meme format is always welcome.