UT Students, Faculty Research Political Engagement and Social Media in Ukraine
- Sep 23, 2020
In 2019, a group of UT Austin students and faculty members began conducting research on Ukrainian political engagement and social media after the country elected President Volodymyr Zelensky. The interdisciplinary research team and President’s Award for Global Learning finalists will soon publish their research in the peer-reviewed journal Social Media and Society.
Professor Mary Neuburger, director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, and lecturer Oksana Lutsyshyna in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, led the research and worked closely with the students throughout the spring 2019 semester to gather survey data and interview college students in six Ukrainian cities, asking questions about the role of social media in politics. Over the summer, they traveled to four of the six cities to conduct follow up in-person focus groups and talk with local political activists.
The researchers found social media to have a strong effect on political engagement among Ukrainian youth, who relied heavily on these platforms for information.
Read the full article from the College of Liberal Arts’ Life and Letters.
