Communication studies professors

Our team of full-time professors covers a wide range of topics and approaches within the study of media and communition. Our research is characterized by a multi-method approach, interdisciplinary collaborations and an international orientation. We investigate a broad range of media and communications, all analysed within their cultural, economic, technological and political context. In this, we embrace the broad range of communication research, welcoming both social scientific communication studies and humanities-oriented media studies approaches.

Charlotte De Backer

Interpersonal communication, food studies, gossip, celebrity gossip, evolution & human behavior

Paolo Favero

Visual anthropology, visual and digital culture/practices, ethnography and emerging technologies, visual research, urban studies, South Asian studies

Heidi Vandebosch

Cyberbullying, health communication, evidence-based interventions, health narratives, media sociology

Michel Walrave

Online self-disclosure, privacy, online marketing, social media, sexting, cyberbullying, cyber dating abuse

Pieter Maeseele

Media, pluralism and democracy, democratic debate and citizenship, news and popular culture, science and environment communication, discourse analysis

Alexander Dhoest

Television drama, social media, LGBTQ, migration and diaspora, identity, intersectionality, in-depth interviews

Philippe Meers

Historical and contemporary media cultures, film audiences, new cinema history, film theory, Latin American cinema

Steve Paulussen

Journalism studies, digital journalism, media and news use, social media, media innovation

Karolien Poels

Advertising research, persuasive technologies, digital media literacy, emotion measurement, experimental research

Sander De Ridder

Digital media, cultural studies, emerging communication technologies, intimacies, youth, digital ethnography, media audiences

Gert-Jan de Bruijn

Artificial intelligence, chatbots, virtual reality, social media and networks, media analysis and effects, meta-analysis and systematic reviews

Elisabetta Costa

digital anthropology; media anthropology; digital and visual cultures; digital ethnography; social media; Turkey and the Middle East