Dr Piers Robinson is a political scientist and currently a co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, co-editor of Propaganda in Focus, and is Research Director and board member of the International Center for 9/11 Justice as well as co-editor of its flagship Journal of 9/11 Studies. He is also a member of Berlin Group21 and PANDA, convenor of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, and associated researcher with the Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global ‘War on Terror’. He has served on the boards of several academic journals.
Research Director, International Center for 9/11 Justice, 2024 – present
Co-editor Journal of 9/11 Studies, 2024 – present
Board of Directors, International Center for 9/11 Justice, 2023 – present
Co-editor Propaganda in Focus. 2022 to present
Executive Committee, PANDA, 2022-2024
Co-Director Organisation for Propaganda Studies, 2018-present
Professor/Chair in Politics, Society and Political Journalism, University of Sheffield, 2016-2019
Visiting Professor, University of Chester, 2013-2016
Senior Lecturer in International Politics, University of Manchester, 2005-2015
Lecturer in Political Communication, University of Liverpool, 1999-2005
PhD Candidate and Teaching Assistant, University of Bristol, 1997-1999
He researches communication, media and world politics, focusing on conflict and war and especially the role of propaganda. His work has been cited in publications such as ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, published by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), and he has received many invitations to lecture and advise on these topics. He has lectured at the NATO Defense College in Rome and given presentations/briefings at the University of Oxford to UK senior military commanders and diplomats and also lectured at the St Cyer military academy in France. He has given public talks for Stop the War Coalition, Frome Stop the War and Media on Trial. Recently, in 2022, he was invited to present at the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) examining the COVID19 response and the role of propaganda and media.
He regularly provides commentary and analysis on propaganda and propaganda related matters and has appeared on both mainstream/corporate media and alternative/independent media.
His current research focuses on organised persuasive communication (OPC) and contemporary propaganda. The development and application of a conceptual framework, designed to examine deceptive and non-deceptive OPC, was originally applied to the case of the 2003 Iraq War and is now published. This research has been developed into a broader research agenda aimed at theorising and researching propaganda and he is currently working on a number of projects including propaganda during the current Syrian conflict (including working with Hans von Sponeck [former UN assistant secretary general], Jose Bustani [First Director General of the OPCW] and Professor Richard Falk with Berlin Group21), propaganda during the 9/11 ‘war on terror’ and propaganda during the COVID-19 event with PANDA. A current focus is with the relaunched International Center for 9/11 Justice.
Piers actively cultivates a number of researching publishing activities aimed at engaging both the academic community and the public with the issue of deceptive and coercive OPC and contemporary propaganda. These include the Organisation for Propaganda Studies , Propaganda in Focus, the International Center for 9/11 Justice, PANDA, Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, and the Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global ‘War on Terror’.
Contact emails: piers.robinson@propagandastudies.org – piers.robinson@me.com – probinson@IC911.org
Dr Piers Robinson 