ACADEMIA

Manisha has lectured in more than 15 countries, including at Oxford University, Princeton University, Stockholm School of Economics, BBC News Labs, Norwegian Journalism conference SKUP, the Arab Investigative Journalism Network (ARIJ) and been a consultant for Al-Jazeera Media Labs.

Manisha holds a PhD funded by the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) at the University of Westminster on OSINT, titled: The Future of Investigative Journalism in the Age of Automation, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which she successfully defended with no corrections. Read it on the British Library.

Her PhD was shortlisted in the 2023 MeCCSA Outstanding Achievement Awards in the Doctoral Research of the Year category, where the judges described Manisha’s thesis as “an important study, mapping the parameters of OSINT work and the impact of those who conduct it, clearly situated and providing helpful recommendations for a range of stakeholders”. The MeCCSA Awards recognise outstanding research in Media, Communication and Cultural studies.

Her work is the first-ever academic study on OSINT. It explores the impact OSINT has had on investigative journalism, by documenting the changes in investigative methodologies brought about it, developing a typology of OSINT tools, and assessing the mental health impact of OSINT based investigations due to the graphic violence, especially the prevalence of PTSD. It uses a political economy lens to show how the gig economy and digital labour has exploited journalists, and how gender, race and class affect career stagnation in investigative fields. She was supervised by Prof Christian Fuchs, former Chair of the European Sociological Association; and Dr. Pieter Verdegem, Reader and editor of “AI for Everyone? Critical Perspectives”.

She was a visiting lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Westminster, specialising in political economy of digital media and OSINT, and teaching on the BA and MA media programmes. In 2020, she served as thesis supervisor for the MA journalism program.

Prior to that, she received the now-suspended Westminster Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship, the University's most prestigious award, to pursue her Masters in Multimedia Journalism with a specialism in investigative journalism and digital storytelling. The full scholarship was granted to only one international student every year, from among thousands of applicants. Manisha also holds a Bachelor’s degree with First class Honours in English Literature, Filmmaking and History, from St. Xavier’s College, India.