SASS - School of Arts and Social Sciences

Dr. Waqas Mahmood

Assistant Professor
Manager Programs

PhD Media Studies (The Islamic University of Bahawalpur)
Visiting Grad Student, University of Michigan, USA
MPhil Mass Communication (UOG)

: +92 (55) 111 900-100 Ext: 4007

Biography

Waqas Mahmood is working as a Lecturer and Manager Programs in the department of Mass Communication and Media Studies since March 2018. Before joining the GIFT, he has worked as a news reporter in different TV News Channels including AbbTakk and Dawn News from 2013 to 2018. He worked as a News Editor in Digital News Platforms also.

Aside from his professional experience, he has delivered several speeches internationally and represented the GIFT University in various research events, including ICA annual conference 2023 in Toronto, UX@UM in University of Michigan USA, Women-migration-safety 2022 and Humanity in Danger 2023 organized by the Institute of Political Science and Security Studies, University of Szczecin, Poland and the IAMCR Presidential PhD Research Webinar.

Furthermore, he is pursuing his PhD in Media Studies at the Department of Media Studies, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan, with a project on “Misinformation on Social media”. He was also a Visiting Graduate Student in the Department of Communication, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, on the six-month IRSIP fellowship program funded by HEC Pakistan.

He has strong abilities of curriculum development, Student consultation, scholarship and career guidance.

Teaching Interests

Social Media and Online journalism
Media Research and Theories
News Reporting and Writing
News and TV Production

Research Interests

Communication in Digital Era
Information Disorder, Fake and Misinformation
Media Literacy and Media Mindfulness
Media Effects on Kids

Guest Speaker

Co-Chaired a Session at "The International Conference of Media & Communication” hosted by the School of Media and Communication, Adamas University, Kolkata, India on 31st March 2023 (Online).
Invited to an Online Lecture on the topic of "Social Media & Effects on Children" organized by the Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) and Global Media Education Council (GMEC) on 20th October 2022 (Online).
Guest Speaker in “South Asian Media Literacy Movement to Fight the Fake (SAMLIM-FF)” on 4th March 2022 (Online).
Keynote speaker in World's longest-running media education event - Global Communication Education Conclave (GCEC), India on 2nd March 2022 (on Zoom). My topic was “Role of media in building peace between Pakistan and India” (Online).
Guest Speaker in a Training session for faculty members and early-stage researchers from different universities in Thailand on “the topic of Article Writing for International Journals” on 12th February 2022 (Online).

Research Work

Misinformation and Fact-Checking: Local Journalists’ Perception and Understanding, has been accepted for inclusion in IAMCR 2023 - Annual International to be held on 11th July to 13th July 2023 in Lyon, France (Paper accepted).
Look The Sender, Ignore the Information: Authenticity and Opinion Leaders in Spreading Fake Information in Teenagers has been accepted for presentation as an In-Person Individual Submission at the 73rd Annual International Communication Association Conference, Reclaiming Authenticity in Communication, to be held 25th-29th May 2023 at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Paper Accepted)
Ph.D. research is selected in the Doctoral summer school in research on Digital/ Media/ Information Literacy (ReDMIL 2022) at UCLouvain, Belgium from 6 to 9 September 2022.
Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan: Framing Analysis of Pakistani and Indian Press, The Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (BAMC2021) (Paper accepted)
Effects of Visual Images on Political Socialization on Social Media Users, VIII Congreso Internacional de la AE-IC, Barcelona 2022 (Paper accepted)
Thesis on the topic of “Role of social media in Journalists’ Practices” for the partial fulfillment of MPhil Degree in Mass Communication & Media.
Thesis on the topic of “Effects of online paper on printed paper readership” for the partial fulfillment of a Master’s Degree in Mass Communication & Media.

Paper Presentation

Research presented in the 2022 IAMCR Presidential Ph.D. Research Webinar on “Communication, Citizenship, and Representative Democracy: Theoretical and Practical Approaches” on the topic of “Political Discourse on social media: Role of Citizen Journalism in the Promotion of Hate Speech” with Co-Authors Iffat Masood (Ph.D. Student at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) and Ummul Baneen (Ph.D. Student at Riphah International University & Assistant Professor at Foundation University, Islamabad).
Presented research with coauthor Iffat Masood (Ph.D. Student at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) on the topic of "Harassment in the Digital Age; Pakistani Female Journalists and their Experiences with Online Abuse" at the "Women-Migration-Safety, Experiences, Policies, Prospect conference" organized by the Institute of Political Science and Security Studies, University of Szczecin, Poland.
Paper presented at UX@UM conference, April 1-2, 2022 in the School of Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the USA on the topic of “Tourism after Terrorism: A Study of the Revival of Swat” (In-person).
Paper presented at an International conference in Bangladesh "Dhaka Media Summit 2022" on "Future of Journalism" on the topic of the Impact of Short Video Mobile Applications on The Lifestyle of University Students (Online/Co-Author).
Research papers presented at a two-day National Conference on “Media as a Soft Power in the 21st Century” on the topics of “Role of social media in Journalists’ Practices” and co-author in the second paper on the topic of “Social Media as Emerging Interactive Communication Tool in SME: Qualitative Study” (In-person).

Awards and Honors

IRSIP Fellowship Award funded by HEC Pakistan for the Department of Communication and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA from January 2022 to June 2022.
IAMCR Ph.D. Ambassador in Pakistan for years 2023 to 2025. Profile is here: https://iamcr.org/ambassadors/phd-pakistan