Anda Solea

I am a Lecturer in Cybercrime in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth. My research focuses on the spread of extremist beliefs, ideologies and subcultures on social media. In particular, I research the communication tactics of incels (involuntary celibates) on TikTok and YouTube investigating the role short-form content plays in spreading misinformation, propaganda, facilitating radicalisation and gender-based violence.

I am a Fellow and Board Member of the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism, which brings together experts to analyse and expose the dangers of misogynist ideology and mobilisation. My work has been previously published in the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, Global Network on Extremism and Technology, The Conversation, and the British Society of Criminology website and has received extensive media coverage.

I have extensive applied experience, collaborating with government agencies, law enforcement, and non-governmental organisations.

I joined the University of Portsmouth as a PhD Researcher in Criminology in 2021 and began teaching as a part-time Lecturer in Criminology in 2022.

I hold an MSc in Social and Organisational Psychology from the University of Exeter (2021) and a BSc in Criminology and Psychology from the University of Southampton (2020).

My PhD research and outputs have been recognised with several awards, including the Faculty Bursary Funding Award for my PhD programme (2021), The Alan Turing Institute Community Award (2022), the British Society of Criminology Postgraduate Committee Best Poster Award (2023), Tooled-Up Education Researcher of the Month (2023), and the British Society of Criminology Women, Crime and Criminal Justice Network Paper Prize (2024) for my paper ‘Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok’.

I coordinate the first-year module Cyberspace, Subcultures, and Online Deviance and teach across various undergraduate and postgraduate courses. My lectures and seminars cover a range of topics, including Research Methods, Terrorism and Extremism, Counter-Terrorism and Violent Extremism, The Far-Right and Incels, Offending Behavior, OSINT and Social Media Investigation, and Developmental Psychology.

My research explores cybercrime, online terrorism and extremism, misinformation, radicalisation, gender-based violence, and online harms. As an interdisciplinary digital criminologist, I employ qualitative, quantitative, and social computational research methods. I am particularly interested in how online spaces and social media contribute to crime, deviance, and harm.

My current research interests include:

• Online misogyny & gender-based violence (Incels, Manosphere groups & influencers)
• Online extremism & terrorism – radicalisation, recruitment, and counter strategies
• Conspiracy theories, political discourse, and online mis/disinformation
• The far-right, alt-right, and alt-lite – white supremacy, hate speech, groups & influencers
• Social media analysis, digital research methods and ethics, OSINT
• Social Psychology, Cyber Psychology, Cybercrime

I am available for media inquiries related to my research and understand the importance of responding to journalists promptly. Interested journalists can also reach out to the University's Media and Communications team for support and guidance on media engagement, including out-of-hours requests.