Roselle Espina
PhD
Media and Communication
Roselle Espina is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, specialising in political communication, digital media and propaganda studies. Her research primarily examines political trolling across contexts, including elections, armed conflicts and hypothetical World War III imagery, with a focus on content production, whether AI-generated or humanly produced, to influence political discourse and public perception. Drawing on more than 7 years of global editorial experience, she was named a 2025 Emerging Scholar by Common Ground Research Networks and graduated magna cum laude in her MA. Beyond her research, Roselle is actively involved in refugee humanitarian initiatives within the university community and is a digital content creator.
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Thesis
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated vs. Human-Made Content: Political Trolls’ World War III Depiction & War Propaganda Influence Online
In the context of 21st-century geopolitical armed conflicts, political trolls increasingly weaponise information and online interactions to amplify polarisation, cultivate uncertainty and disseminate war-propaganda narratives across digital media spaces. This project examines the extent to which online political trolling influences public opinion on globalised digital platforms, particularly in shaping political perceptions and ideological orientations surrounding armed conflict. It further investigates how AI-generated differs to human-manipulated content that contributes to the construction and circulation of hypothetical World War III imagery.
Research interests
- Political communication
- Digital media
- Propaganda studies
- Content production