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Two multi-year SSHRC-funded research projects led by 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿ÚSchool of Communication professor Ahmed Al-Rawi have generated new insights into some of today’s most pressing issues; from the opioid crisis to online hate, racism and democracy.

Both projects have filled a gap in our understanding of how media framings and narratives shape public discourse on key topics. The research has resulted in collaborations with students and researchers, international conference presentations, journal articles, and scholarly published books.

Framing the Opioid Crisis in Canada

This project, an SSHRC Insight Development research project conducted from 2023 to 2026, investigated how the opioid crisis has been framed in Canadian public, political and media discourse.

This research produced several outcomes, including many presentations nationally and internationally. It was first presented at the FCAT Forum: Research in Teaching at 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú in May 2024. The work was also presented across Canada, including a presentation co-authored with Communication student Kelly Grounds at the Canadian Communication Association (CCA) Conference at the Université de Montréal (2024), and at the Canadian Political Science Association Conference at George Brown University (2025).

This research has also made an impact internationally, as Al-Rawi and his team developed digital visual communication for the research, which was presented at the International Visual Methods Conference at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey.

These comprehensive national and international inquiries culminated in major published scholarship, notably the book titled , published by Emerald Publishing. This monograph reflects collaborative research involving 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Úgraduate students Joseph Nicolai, Courtney McLaren, Kelly Grounds and Robert Duhaime.

Media, Democracy, Racism and Online Hate

Simultaneously, Al-Rawi also led an SSHRC Insight project investigating the intersections of media, democracy, racism, and online hate in Canada from 2022-2026. This multi-year body of work has filled a gap in our understanding of how polarized narratives and digital platforms shape public discourse, political systems, and the experiences of marginalized communities.

The project’s findings and research trajectories unfolded across several key scholarly outputs and academic engagements. For example, early insights from the project were showcased nationally and internationally, beginning with presentations at the CCA Conference in 2023 examining mediated democracy and racism discourses. This research then expanded globally with computational analyses of news and social media coverage presented at the WAPOR Asia Pacific Conference in Canberra (2023) and the International Communication Association (ICA) in Gold Coast, Australia (2024). The research also examined digital hostility, notably addressing internet hate when Al-Rawi served as a panelist at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2023.

This research led to publications, such as the book (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) and specialized studies such as (Frontiers in Communication, 2023) and (2025).

Throughout 2025, the research team turned a critical lens toward structural inequalities and democratic participation. Together with other collaborators, Al-Rawi presented some of the research concerning the perspectives of racialized Canadian politicians and journalists at major gatherings, including the ICA in Denver, the IAMCR in Singapore, the CPSA, and the CCA in Toronto. These collaborative efforts also yielded high-impact journal articles, such as an exploration of disruptive identity politics surrounding Black Lives Matter in the International Political Science Review (2025).

Finally, the culmination of this multi-year research resulted in major book releases, including (Routledge, 2025), with collaborators Devan Prithipaul, Kelly Grounds, Sadia Nasrin, Breanna Blackwell and Betty Ackah, and a manuscript for Mapping Islamophobia in Canada: Exclusion and Polarized Narratives, which is currently under review.