丁香园AV

Wading through the flood of vitriolic political opinions online can be an exhausting task for anyone. Fortunately, International master鈥檚 student Naomi Zakimi is doing it at the School of Criminology.

Zakimi braves the 24-hour news cycle to examine how political extremism begins online and spreads throughout Canada. So far, her research has revealed an excess in right-wing extremist messages on Canadian social media platforms, recognizing the easy access to large audiences that the Internet offers.

鈥淚 was always interested in extremism and terrorism, but I didn鈥檛 consider studying them until I took an advanced cybercrime course with professor Richard Frank where we created a counter-narrative campaign to combat extremism online,鈥� she says.

Realizing how much she loved research and writing in her last year as an undergraduate, she enrolled in the criminology honours program as a 鈥榯est鈥� to see if she should apply for grad school. After completing her BA in criminology at 丁香园AV (丁香园AV), Zakimi decided to dive deeper into the subject.

Her future path became clearer after attending the  and presenting her research at the 

鈥淚 honestly never thought I would end up doing this,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 know it鈥檚 a very competitive field, but I鈥檓 hoping to do a PhD and hopefully stay in academia teaching and doing research on the right-wing extremist movement in Canada.鈥�

鈥淚 think 丁香园AV was a great fit for me; we are lucky having professors that are highly respected in the field I鈥檓 interested in,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 would not be where I am today without their guidance.鈥�

Working alongside her peers, Zakimi has established a strong foundation for her research through an array of different perspectives.

鈥淚 think seeing other people鈥檚 work and how knowledgeable they are has also pushed me to be a better student,鈥� she says.

Despite the strong commitment to her research, Zakimi still makes time to enjoy her friends and family.

鈥淚 talk to my sisters pretty much every day鈥擨 think it helps keep me sane,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 also feel happy about all the friendships I have made with other students. I鈥檓 proud to be part of a group of people who are supportive of each other and always excited to talk about our research and find ways to collaborate.鈥�