Manisha’s special interests are communication for social impact, young people’s media cultures, new media, civic engagement, transcultural citizenship, global education, media and information literacy and gender. Broadly, her qualitative and immersive research over the years has addressed the question of how ordinary individuals engage with media to experience agency, to explore identities, and to participate in social change. Her research projects include studies on health communication, narrative selves, transcultural citizenship, media and information literacy, and an ongoing inquiry into digital youth cultures foregrounding the voices of youth from India and other countries of the global South.
Manisha has been part of several international collaborations with researchers from Australia, UK, Finland, Netherlands, Canada, Egypt, and USA among others. Prof. Manisha has shared her research as an invited speaker on several international platforms and her work has been published in reputed journals such as the International Journal of Communication, Communication Monographs, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Journal of Youth Studies, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, New Media & Society, Communication Inquiry, Journal of Children and Media, Comunicar, Media Asia, and as chapters in several books.
Her recent books include Gen Z, digital media, and transcultural lives: At home in the world (Lexington Books), Raising a humanist: Conscious parenting in an increasingly fragmented world (Sage); Handbook of Media Education Research- an edited volume (Wiley) and Challenging discriminatory practices of religious socialisation among adolescents- Critical media literacy and pedagogies in practice (Palgrave). She has led several capacity building programs for non-profits, various state governments, corporate sector, and international organisations in communication and information management.