Fiona Dragstra graduated from the research master African Studies at the African Studies Centre (Leiden University) in 2017. She followed a minor in African Politics at McGill University (Montréal), and became a MSc in Political Communication after finishing her thesis “Political Engagement and Social Media: A case study of the Mozambique 2014 elections”.  

For her Master thesis she is interested in the role that new media outlets, such as Facebook and blogs, play in (political) communication networks. Fiona’s research entails how ICTs reshape peoples own lives, as well as the lives of people in their social network(s) in the socio-political context in which they operate. And if these networks in which they operate fuel them to engage or start (political) change. She writes her master thesis in the project together with the IICD, and will do fieldwork from March-August 2015 in Burkina Faso and Ghana.

Next to this, Fiona works for the WageIndicator Foundation, a labour market research organisation with websites in 88 countries, including 22 African countries. And she contributes to the blog ‘eufrika.org‘. 

Fiona’s fields of interest lie in (new) media and their interaction with politics, political participation,agency and motivation, democratization theories, and labour market issues.