Professor Maria Michalis

Maria Michalis is Professor of Communication Policy at the University of Westminster and Deputy Director of its Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI).

Recognised for her work on media governance, public service media and digital policy, Maria explores how media systems, digital platforms and communication infrastructures shape media freedoms, democratic outcomes and public interest considerations. Over nearly three decades, her research has contributed to debates on communication policy in the UK and beyond, with her current work focusing on the future of public service media (PSM), digital governance and digital sustainability.

Maria has presented her work at major national, European and international policy forums, including the International Institute of Communications, the Westminster Media Forum, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe’s European Audiovisual Observatory, and UNESCO. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Co-Investigator for the UK team on the EU Horizon 2020 project netCommons: Network Infrastructure as Commons (Grant No. 688768), which examined Internet infrastructure as a commons  , looking at Internet community networks. Her work also contributed to UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators framework (2019), designed to evaluate the impact of national communication policies on human rights.

Maria regularly responds to public consultations, and her submissions have been referenced by institutions including the House of Lords and Ofcom. She served on the Board of Trustees of the UK advocacy organisation Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV) for the maximum of six years, from 2017 to 2023, where she helped them navigate debates on the governance and future of PSM. In 2020, she was a member of the UK press regulator IMPRESS Advisory Group reviewing its regulatory scheme. In 2024–25, she contributed to the Council of Europe’s initiative on Systemic Threats to Public Service Media.

Her expertise has led to interviews and commentary in international media outlets on issues relating to PSM and media policy, including in the UK, Germany and Slovenia.

Maria has held leadership roles in several international scholarly associations. Within the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), she served as Secretary General (2012–2016) and previously as Vice-Chair of the Communication Policy & Technology Section. She also served as Vice-Chair of the Media Industries & Cultural Production Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) from 2016 to 2022. She is currently Co-President of the International Association of Public Media Researchers (IAPMR), Vice-Chair of the Policy Network of the UK Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA), and a member of the Euromedia Research Group.

Maria is the author of Governing European Communications (2007) and co-editor of Challenges and Developments in Public Service Journalism (2024, Open Access). She has published widely in leading international journals and edited collections.

She serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the European Journal of Communication, the Journal of Digital Media and Policy, and the Palgrave Global Media Policy & Business book series. Her reviewing and evaluation work has included assessing applications for national and international research councils, such as the AHRC, ESRC, SSHRC Canada, and research councils in Norway, Flanders and Greece.

Maria is also an experienced doctoral supervisor, having successfully supervised nearly 20 PhD researchers as Director of Studies or second supervisor. She has acted as an external examiner for doctoral theses in the UK, South Africa and Spain. She is interested in supervising PhDs mostly on issues around national and international media policy, public service broadcasting, and digital governance.

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.