Dr Maxine Ali is a Research Associate in the School of Education, Communication and Society at King’s College London. Her research examines the intersections between language, health, and technology, with a focus on gendered health communication, social media platforms, and post-truth digital economies. Additionally, Maxine teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within the School of Education, Communication and Society and the Department of Digital Humanities.

Maxine completed her PhD in Language, Discourse and Communication in 2026 at King's College London, under the supervision of Professor Alexandra Georgakopoulou and Dr Olivia Knapton. Her doctoral thesis, titled 'Authenticating Wellness: A discourse analytic study of influencer-healers' self-presentation practices on Instagram,' examined how ‘truth,’ ‘authority,’ ‘credibility’ and ‘authenticity’ are discursively manufactured within alternative health and wellness cultures on social media. Maxine also holds an MSc in Medical Humanities (2018) and BA in English Language and Communication (2016) from King's College London.

Research interests

• Health discourses and communication
• Digital communication and new media technologies
• Language and gender
• Self-presentation and influencer cultures on social media
• Discursive formations of post-truth, mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories
• Uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in, for and against health
• Affect and interpersonal interaction in LLMs
• Social digital literacies education