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Jawahirus Saniah is a researcher with an academic background in Communication Studies, specialising in media and cultural studies, qualitative research, and critical approaches to communication and society. Her research interests centre on marginalised voices, power relations, digital technologies, cultural representation, and the ways dominant discourses shape whose knowledge and experiences become visible.

As a Research Assistant at DEEP EnGender, she contributes to qualitative research, literature review, data collection and analysis, research documentation, and the development of knowledge that connects critical scholarship with community experiences. Her interdisciplinary background in communication and media allows her to examine social issues through questions of representation, discourse, technology, culture, and power.

Saniah's engagement with community-based research began in 2018 through a phenomenological study with the Lengkese Indigenous community affected by the Bawakaraeng Mega Landslide. She assisted in conducting interviews, translating the local language, facilitating communication during fieldwork, and coding qualitative data. The experience shaped her interest in understanding disasters not only as environmental events but also through people's relationships with land, ancestry, identity, and community.

Her subsequent research experience has included studies of digital media, cultural heritage, public communication, and relations of power. As a research assistant in a Triple Helix research project on the revitalisation of living heritage, she contributed to literature reviews, focus group discussions, media research, policy briefs, and participatory community empowerment. She has also supported research projects through data collection, transcription, qualitative coding, proofreading, research administration, and analytical discussions.

Her research approach combines qualitative inquiry with critical attention to power, representation, and social inequality. She has experience conducting in-depth interviews, observation, virtual ethnography, focus group discussions, qualitative analysis, and academic as well as public-oriented writing. Her work is particularly attentive to ethical considerations when engaging with communities and groups whose experiences have historically been marginalised.

Saniah's current research interests also explore the relationship between technology and society. Her recent projects examine the transformation of Indonesian newsrooms in response to generative AI, the changing role of visual communication and emojis in digital culture, and the relationship between parasocial relationships, digital platforms, and political communication.

She holds a Master’s degree in Communication Studies from Universitas Gadjah Mada, with a focus on Media and Cultural Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Universitas Hasanuddin.

Education

• 2026 — Master of Arts in Communication Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
• 2017 — Bachelor of Communication Studies, Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia

Selected Research Experience

• Revitalisasi Warisan Budaya Hidup (Living Heritage) untuk Inklusi Kultural dan Pemberdayaan Kolektif, Triple Helix Research Grant, FISIPOL UGM · 2026
• Subyek yang Terberai di Tengah Jagat Media” | Dr. Dian Arymami — Departemen Ilmu Komunikasi UGM
• Kesadaran dan Pengukuran Jenama Direktorat Jenderal Bea Cukai, Digital Media and Communication Research Centre (DECODE UGM) · 2024
• “Studi Fenomenologi Pemaknaan Warga Lengkese Terhadap Mega Longsor Bawakaraeng” — Universitas Hasanuddin

Selected Research Projects

• Facing The Zero-click Era: Indonesian Newsroom’s | Adaptation to AI Generative Search” — GSSC 2025
• Ketika Visual Menggeser Kata: Penggunaan Emoji dalam Komunikasi Digital Perspektif Semiotika Sosial
  2024
• From TikTok to the Ballot Box: Parasocial Relationships and the Construction of Presidential Choice in the 2024 Election
  2024

Recognition

• Best Presenter at Graduation Students Symposium on Communication Science (GSSC UGM 2025).