Kenzie Burchell

Kenzie Burchell is a media sociologist and journalism studies scholar. He holds a MSc from London School of Economics and a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, where he also served as a lecturer and visiting tutor. Prior to joining University of Toronto, Professor Burchell was the Research Associate of European Media Studies at the University of Manchester.

Outside of academia, Kenzie has held roles with the BBC World Service, the BBC Russian Service, the Cabinet Office of the UK Government, and international press freedom organization Reporters Sans Frontières as their representative in Moscow.  As a photographer, Kenzie’s work has been exhibited internationally at the Dublin Science Gallery, the Russian Polytechnic Museum, London Fashion Week and the 54th Venice Biennale as well as other venues in the UK, Italy, and Japan.

BA in Political Science & Russian and Slavic Studies (McGill University)
MSc in Media and Communications (London School of Economics)
PGCert in the Management of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education & PhD in Media and Communications (Goldsmiths,University of London)

Kenzie Burchell is the Co-director of the Specialist (Joint) Program in Journalism and Assistant Professor of Journalism in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media. He holds a graduate appointment with the Faculty of Information and is an associate faculty member for the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES). 

Digital journalism, human rights, open-source intelligence, methods of witnessing and bearing witness

Technology, surveillance, censorship, journalism practice, forensic media

• "Making Responsible Reporting Practices Visible: Humanitarian Crisis, Global Media, and the War in Syria” JHI-UTSC Early Career Digital Humanities Fellow (2019-2020);
• "Exploiting the limits of Media Power: Censorship, Surveillance and Spectacle" SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2017-2019); 
• "The Social Life of Information Abundance, Data-Mining, and News Production” Connaught New Researcher Award (2015-2017)

Burchell, K. 2020.  “Reporting, Uncertainty, and the Orchestrated Fog of War: A Practice-Based Lens for Understanding Global Media Events.” International Journal of Communication. Vol. 14(2020), 1-23.  Available at: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/11205

Burchell, K., Driessens, O. and Mattoni, A. 2020. “Mediating Practice–Practicing Media: Introduction.”  International Journal of Communication. Vol. 14(2020), 1-14. Available at: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/11202/3095

Burchell, K. 2018. “’Take my Picture’: The Media Assemblage of Lone-Wolf Terror Events, Mobile Communication, and the News” In Robin Anderson and Purnaka L. de Silva eds. Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action. New York: Routledge.
ISBN: 9781315538129. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315538129-47/tak...

Burchell, K. 2017. “Everyday Communication Management and Perceptions of Use: How Media Users Limit and Shape Their Social World.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. Vol. 23(4) 409-424.  doi: 10.1177/1354856517700382

Burchell, K. 2017. “Finding Time for Goffman: Where absence is more telling than presence” in: S. Rodgers and T. Markham eds. Conditions of Mediation: Phenomenological Perspective on Media. New York: Peter Lang. pp 186-195. Book Chapter.
ISBN: 9781433137297. Available at: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1051847 

Burchell, K. 2015. “Infiltrating the Space, Hijacking the Platform: Pussy Riot, Sochi Protests, and Media Events”. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies. Vol. 12 (1) 659-676.  Available at: https://participations.org/Volume%2012/Issue%201/36.pdf

Burchell, K., O’Loughlin, B.,Gillespie, M., and Nieto, E. 2015. “Soft Power and Its Audiences: Tweeting the Olympics from London 2012 to Sochi 2014”. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies. Vol. 12 (1). 413-437.  Available at: https://participations.org/Volume%2012/Issue%201/27.pdf

Burchell, K. 2015. “Tasking the Everyday: Where Mobile and Online Communication takes Time” Mobile Media & Communication. Vol. 3(1) 36–52. doi:10.1177/2050157914546711

"Developing the Global Academy: Piloting a Network-based Model of Research during War", SSHRC funded collaboration between University of Toronto and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA); Media Studies cluster liaison (2022-2023) 

“Conflict, Language and Diplomacy in a Hyper-networked World”, Joint Research Initiative, International Partnerships, University of Toronto and University of Manchester's Russian and East European Studies (REES) and the Division of Language-based Area Studies; Co-investigator and Toronto lead (2019)

Hutchings, S. and Burchell, K. January 2015. “Approaches to the Reporting of Islam in Russian Television News: An Insight into Trends and Tensions within Official Discourse Under Putin”[Russian Language] Policy Report for the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, Moscow. Available at: http://www.sova-center.ru/files/religion/islam-media.pdf

Hutchings, S. and Burchell, K. April 2014. “Comparative Approaches to Islam, Security and Television News: Implications for Editorial Policies and Practices of Public Service Broadcasters”. Policy Report for BBC Director of Editorial Policy and Standards.