Hirah Azhar

Hirah Azhar is a second-year PhD student at the University of Southampton on an AHRC-funded collaborative doctoral project with the Imperial War Museums that examines a recently-acquired born digital collection of Islamic State images and Ministry of Defense photographs (2013-2019) at the museum to explore how these two opposing sources of influence shape public opinion. This includes exploring the impact of increasing digitisation on conflict imagery, the impact of film, television, and popular culture on war propaganda (and vice versa), the evolving role of the war photographer, and how social media has changed the production and dissemination of war propaganda. Hirah has previously worked in the fields of counter extremism, academic research (in conflict resolution, human rights, and the Middle East), and as a newspaper editor.