Maja Šimunjak is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Middlesex University, London UK. She holds a PhD in Political Communication from the University of East Anglia with a specialism in media reporting and electoral campaigns in authoritarian and transitional societies.
At Middlesex University she teaches modules on BA Journalism, BA Journalism and Media and BA Creative Writing and Journalism programmes, such as Multimodal Journalism, Advanced Digital Journalism, Contemporary Journalism, Journalism Skills etc.
Before joining Middlesex, Maja worked at the European University Institute, Bell Cambridge, and University of East Anglia. She also has extensive experience as a professional journalist and editor in various media outlets, including the positions of an editor and news anchor at a national television station, subeditor in daily newspapers and a radio journalist and anchor.
English, Spanish, Croatian
Maja Šimunjak is Module Leader on Journalism Skills, Advanced Digital Journalism, Multimodal Journalism, and Contemporary Journalism module. She leads the Independent project module, Level 6 final project module, across five programmes (BA Journalism, Journalism and Media, BA Media and Cultural Studies, BA Advertising, PR and Media), and supervises undergraduate and post-graduate creative projects and dissertations.
Maja’s research focuses on the media, journalism and political communication trends and practices, particularly in authoritarian and transitional societies. Research projects she participated in over the last decade range from analyses of social media, media reporting and journalistic cultures, to analyses of news management practices and hidden advertising. Most recently she was involved in the international research projects Media Pluralism Monitor, Varieties of Democracy and European Elections 2014.
Šimunjak, Maja and Caliandro, Alessandro (2020) Framing #Brexit on Twitter: the EU 27’s lesson in message discipline? The British Journal of Politics and International Relations , 22 (3). pp. 439-459. ISSN 1369-1481
Šimunjak, Maja (2019) Political leaders, media and authoritarianism in Croatia: the media strikes back? East European Politics . ISSN 2159-9165 (Published online first)
Šimunjak, Maja and Nenadić, Iva and Žuvela, Lana (2019) National report: Croatia. In: 2019 European Elections Campaign: Images, topics, media in the 28 Member States. Novelli, Edoardo and Johansson, Bengt , eds. European Parliament, Brussels, pp. 59-66. ISBN 9789284649853
Šimunjak, Maja and Caliandro, Alessandro (2019) Twiplomacy in the age of Donald Trump: Is the diplomatic code changing? The Information Society: An International Journal , 35 (1). pp. 13-25. ISSN 0197-2243
Šimunjak, Maja (2018) From a leader-centred to a party-centred system? The curious case of media (de-)personalisation in Yugoslavia and Croatia, 1945–2015. Europe-Asia Studies , 70 (9). pp. 1496-1514. ISSN 1465-3427
