Miss Rachel Abreu

Rachel Abreu is a PhD Researcher in the Department of Communications, Media, and Culture. Rachel's doctoral research centres on the role of religious identity in ethnic minority women's conceptualisations of beauty on Instagram. She is supervised by Dr Greg Singh, Dr Susan Berridge, and Dr Victoria Esteves.

Rachel's research is guided by a feminist framework and seeks to highlight the voices of marginalised groups. Her key research interests are:

• The persisting effects of colonialism on identity formation and self-perception
• The intersections between gender, race, and religion
• The role of social media in articulations of beauty and gender

Rachel holds an MA(Hons) in English Literature from The University of St Andrews. She also completed her MSc in Media Management at the University of Stirling. Her Master's Dissertation, 'The Relationship Between Instagram and the Perceptions of Beauty of Young Women from Ethnic Minorities', received the Dee Amy Chinn Prize (2019-20) for its contribution to gender research in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Rachel has previously worked as a journalist in both the Philippines and the UK. Her experience includes both lifestyle and news journalism for print, TV, and radio outlets.

Rachel's research interests include (but are not limited to) the themes of:

Social Media, Participatory Cultures, Visual Media, Feminism, Religion, Race and Ethnicity, Colonialism, Representation, Intersectionality, Body Image, Self Image.

Conferences and Presentations:

'Fashioning Identity: Using Instagram to Challenge Misconceptions of Religion, Modesty, and Beauty' (2024, forthcoming). To present at the European Conference on Arts and Humanities (ECAH 2024).

'The Role of Instagram in Religious Women’s Negotiations of Gender and Sexual Identity' (2024). Invited to present at Warwick Anti-Sexism Society following the Sex in Contemporary Media Conference 2023.

'The Role of Instagram in Religious Women’s Negotiations of Gender and Sexual Identity' (2023). Presented at the Sex in Contemporary Media Conference (SCMC).

'Intense Curation: How Religious, Ethnic Minority Women Navigate Instagram’s Beauty Standards' (2023). Presented at the Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media and Culture (BAMC 2023).

'The Myth of Diverse Representation: How Multiple Marginalisations Converge in the Online Sphere' (2023). Presented at the En-Gender Conference.

'Researching the Margins: Considerations of Standpoint and Sensitivity' (2023). Guest lecture on the GNDPP02 Researching Gender module at the University of Stirling.

'Challenges and Strategies of Interdisciplinary Research' (2023). Presented on behalf of the Interdisciplinary Research Network (IRN) at the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (SGSSS) Interdisciplinary Steer Conference.

'Instagram, Beauty and the Role of Religious, Ethnic Background' (2023). Presented at the University of Warwick Centre for the Study of Women and Gender (CSWG) Graduate Seminar Series.

'(Kn)owing: Challenging Assumptions in Insider-Outsider Research' (2022). Presented at the London School of Economics (LSE) Research/er/ed Conference.

'Instagram, Beauty, and Ethnic Minority Women' (2022). Presented at the En-Gender Conference.

'Feminist Approaches to Interdisciplinary Research' (2022). Presented on behalf of the Interdisciplinary Research Network (IRN) at the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (SGSSS) Workshop for Working Across Disciplines in an Interdisciplinary PhD.

'New Feminisms: Social Media as Mediator in Ethnic Minority Women’s Negotiations of Gender and Religious Identity' (2022). Presented at the University of Stirling Faculty of Arts and Humanities Postgraduate Conference.

Nanjing Exchange Programme 2024 (Tutor)

PREPP62/PREPP85 MSc Public Relations and Strategic Communication (Postgraduate Taught (PGT) Tutor)

MMAPPDS MSc Media Management Dissertation (Supervisor)

CMCPDS1 MSc Digital Media and Communication Dissertation (Supervisor)

GNDPP02 Researching Gender (Guest Lecturer)

FMSU9A4 Digital Media and Culture (Tutor)

JOUU9A1 Introduction to Journalism Studies (Tutor)

JOUU9A2 Ethical Issues in Journalism (Tutor)

BIGC Exchange Programme 2021 (Module Coordinator)