Anna Piela

Topically, my PhD research was based on a juxtaposition between Islam, gender, and digital environments. I conducted my PhD work at the Centre for Women's Studies at the University of York and graduated in 2009. Since 2009 I have been publishing in peer-reviewed journals such as Contemporary Islam and the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. I have also published a monograph titled Muslim Women Online: Faith and Identity in Virtual World (Routledge). In 2011 with the help of the Islamic Studies Network who awarded me an individual grant I published a methodological guide for students interested in qualitatively researching Islam and Muslims. At the moment I am working on a project focused on identities of British niqabis (face-veiled women) and I combine traditional data with online discussion data in order to gain an in-depth insight into experiences and views of participants. My article that draws exclusively from online visual data produced by niqabis has just been accepted for publication by the journal Feminist Media Studies.