Bio: Dr. Sharmila Kayal is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Media and Communication (SOMC) under Adamas University (AU) in Kolkata. Before joining Adamas University, she was a full-time research scholar at Pondicherry Central University in Puducherry. There, she was a recipient of the university-accredited UGC Research Fellowship for five years. She did her Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. Her Master’s degree dissertation ‘Non Verbal Communication through Indian Classical Dance & Music – With Special reference to ‘Odissi’’ was highly appreciated and also cited. She obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Application in the year 2007 from F.M. Autonomous College in Balasore. She also has a B.A. Degree in Sociology (Honours) with Education as Elective. She received a First Class with Distinction and was a university rank holder. In 2009-10, she also worked as a Guest Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication of a UGC Add-on-Course at Fakir Mohan Autonomous College in Balasore. Her undergraduate dissertation ‘Widowhood Problems of Bengali Community – A Special Reference to the Rural Dwellers of East Medinipur’ was well acclaimed by the Department of Sociology for the niche empirical field study with proper quantitative techniques. Further, she was an intern and later worked as a trainee Journalist at The Sambad, North Odisha Division, Balasore. She was a Programme Executive at the Television Channel Omm TV. She got more than fifty bylines as an intern and later on as a trainee journalist while with The Sambad. She was also recruited by ETV as a Special Correspondent/ Reporter in 2009. She has actively participated in international conferences held in Dubai in 2018 and Bangkok in 2019, where her papers were published in reputed and prestigious journals. She has papers in the Indian Journal of Ecology, a NAAS-credited and Scopus-indexed journal. She also has an additional Master’s degree in Criminology and Police Administration, which she completed in 2015.