Classification and characterization of research output from the social sciences and humanities based on textual metadata

The classification of scientific research plays an important role in structuring the research landscape and in supporting the monitoring and evaluation of science. By assigning publications, journals, and organizations to disciplines, classification systems help make sense of an increasingly complex body of scholarly output. However, widely used international citation databases, such as Web of Science, are known to insufficiently cover the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). To address these limitations, national bibliographic databases have been developed, including the Flemish Academic Bibliographic Database for the Social Sciences and Humanities (VABB-SHW). While these databases provide broader SSH coverage, they also face challenges related to limited citation metadata, multilingual publications, diverse output types, and incomplete textual information. These characteristics make traditional ways of positioning publications into disciplines impractical. Against this background, this dissertation explores whether recent developments in Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be used to support text-based, publication-level classification of SSH research. The research combines conceptual reflection on academic disciplines and classification with empirical studies of text-based approaches. These studies show that the performance of text-based classification methods depends on disciplinary characteristics, publication types, and the availability of training data. In its application to VABB-SHW, the dissertation examines how disciplines are defined and operationalized in the database and what the implications and limitations of these definitions are. It further explores the possibilities opened by publication-level classification for extending insights derived from the database and for complementing existing classification practices. Although a large part of the research focuses on this Flemish SSH database, many of the questions addressed and insights developed are relevant beyond this specific case, both for the study of text-based classification of science and for the development of other local and national SSH databases.

• Promovenda: Cristina Arhiliuc
• Promotors: Prof. dr. Tim Engels & dr. Raf Guns
• Date: Friday 30 January 2026, 10 AM
• Location: Stadscampus, Promotiezaal Klooster van de Grauwzusters (Lange St-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerp)
• Language: English

The defence is followed by a reception; please confirm your attendance by January 20 by mailing cristina.arhiliuc@uantwerpen.be. 

Ecological and Social Determinants of Dengue and Chikungunya along an Altitudinal Gradient in Central Nepal. 

Climate change is increasingly influencing the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, with significant implications for public health. This PhD research examines the ecological and social determinants of dengue and chikungunya along an altitudinal gradient in Central Nepal, addressing critical evidence gaps related to climate change, disease distribution, and community responses across different elevations.

A concurrent cross-sectional mixed-methods approach was conducted between September and October 2018, integrating quantitative household surveys (n = 660) and qualitative data from 27 in-depth interviews and 12 focus group discussions. The study was guided by four research objectives: (RO1) assessment of climate trends and community perceptions, (RO2) spatiotemporal distribution of dengue and chikungunya, (RO3) community knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to dengue, and (RO4) challenges in vector control implementation.

Results show a strong agreement between perceived and observed climate trends, particularly increasing summer temperatures (p < 0.001), while perceptions of rainfall variability differed significantly by altitude (p < 0.001). Communities across all elevation zones reported increasing climate-related extreme events, including floods, droughts, and landslides, with perceived impacts on agriculture, water resources, biodiversity, and human health. The systematic review of 66 studies revealed substantial geographic expansion of dengue and chikungunya across the HKH region, with Nepal accounting for the highest proportion of reported dengue cases (56.83%), peaking during the post-monsoon (September-November). Household survey findings indicate low dengue awareness and limited preventive practices, despite generally positive attitudes. Education and income were positively associated with knowledge (p < 0.01). Qualitative findings highlighted growing concern among stakeholders regarding future dengue risk due to climate change and human mobility. Vector control efforts were found largely reactive, outbreak-oriented, and constrained by limited resources, weak coordination, and insufficient community engagement. 

This thesis demonstrates that climate change is reshaping dengue risks along Nepal’s altitudinal gradient, while highlighting that chikungunya is an emerging regional threat in the HKH. The findings underscores the necessity for climate-informed, region-specific public health policies, strengthened surveillance, and targeted awareness programs to improve preparedness for climate-sensitive health threats in Nepal and the HKH region.

• Promovenda: Parbati Phuyal
• Promotor: Prof. dr. Edwin Wouters, prof. dr. Ruth Müller and prof. dr. Meghnath Dhimal
• Date: Monday 9 February 2026, 5 PM
• Location: Stadscampus, Klooster van de Grauwzusters (Lange St-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerp)
• Language: English

The defence is followed by a reception; please confirm your attendance by February  1 by e-mail Parbati.Phuyal@student.uantwerpen.be.   

Ondersteboven: veranderende zorgperspectieven rond ouder wordende ouders

Hoe verdelen we zorg en financiële steun in vergrijzende families? Wanneer ervaren volwassen kinderen, ouders en instellingen die steun als eerlijk, redelijk en wenselijk? Dit proefschrift onderzoekt hoe verwachtingen, motivaties en verantwoordelijkheden voor intergenerationele solidariteit worden gevormd. Daarnaast brengen we in kaart welke omstandigheden volwassen kinderen, ouder wordende ouders en institutionele actoren steun en financiële solidariteit als rechtvaardig en wenselijk beschouwen.

Dit onderzoek verfijnt de theorievorming over intergenerationele solidariteit door ouder-kindrelaties te benaderen vanuit een multi-actor – en levensloopperspectief. Hierbij hebben we oog voor de variëteit aan steunrelaties en - vormen binnen diverse gezinsdynamieken, deze ingebed in bredere netwerken en normatieve kaders. Daarbij gingen we verder dan het klassieke conflict-consensus denken: ambivalente gevoelens tonen niet een gebrek aan solidariteit, maar de complexiteit van steunrelaties en de nood om verschillende perspectieven samen te brengen.

Onze bevindingen tonen dat steunverwachtingen en motivaties verschillend zijn naargelang de levensfase, uitgesproken zorgnoden (in dit proefschrift hanteren we immers een brede definitie van oudere volwassen, inclusief zij met mogelijke toekomstige zorgnoden), familiegeschiedenis, emotionele nabijheid, genderpatronen en bredere netwerken zoals familie, buurt, lokale overheid en publieke of private diensten. Een van de groepen met een specifieke ondersteuningsnood zijn kwetsbare ouderen waar lokale OCMW ‘s financiële steun aan verlenen om woonzorgfacturen te betalen. Dit onderzoek toont hier de cruciale rol van maatschappelijke werkers in het navigeren en balanceren tussen wetgeving, lokale beleidsdiscours en de geleefde realiteit van de families.

Concluderend stellen we dat deze vele facetten van intergenerationele solidariteit bij ouder wordende families impliceren dat de ervaren verdeling van verantwoordelijkheden tussen families, professionals en de welvaarsstaat dynamisch en contextafhankelijk is.

• Promovenda: Anna Willems
• Promotoren: Prof. dr. Dimitri Mortelmans & dr. Anina Vercruyssen
• Datum: dinsdag 10 februari 2026, 14u
• Plaats: Stadscampus UAntwerpen, Promotiezaal van de Grauwzusters (Lange St-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerpen)
• Taal: Nederlands

Na de verdediging volgt een receptie; graag je aanwezigheid bevestigen voor 30 januari 2026 per mail aan anna.willems@uantwerpen.be.   

Eliciting Preferences for Well-Being Measurement:  Methodologigical and Behavioural Challenges.        

Since the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report from 2009, interest in multidimensional and preference-based well-being measures has grown. Although the equivalence approach has strong normative appeal, putting it into practice is difficult because people’s preferences are hard to measure reliably. This dissertation examines these challenges and evaluates whether the approach offers practical advantages over simpler well-being indicators. Experiments using contingent valuation show that people’s stated willingness to pay is heavily influenced by the first value they see, raising concerns about bias. Evidence from Belgian data suggests that equivalent incomes derived this way do not capture well-being better than actual incomes. The subjective well-being method is easier for respondents but introduces statistical complications. Common techniques for estimating uncertainty can be inaccurate, and variation in preferences makes interpersonal comparisons less reliable. The method also appears to underestimate the role of income, which affects the resulting well-being measure. To address these issues, the dissertation proposes the equivalent quantile measure, which evaluates well being along a social “ladder” of outcomes. Applied to real data, it performs better at reflecting multidimensional well-being and identifying deprivation.

Overall, the findings show that preference-based measures have conceptual strengths but require very precise and unbiased preferences. Careful survey design and larger samples are essential for their effective use.

• Promovendus: Lukas Leitner
• Promotor: Prof. dr. Koen Decanq
• Date: Thursday 12 February 2026, 4 PM - 6 PM
• Location: Stadscampus, aula S.B.003 (Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp)
• Language: English

The defence is followed by a reception; please confirm your attendance by February 6 by e-mail lukas.leitner@uantwerpen.be.   

From Competency Models to Commercial Results. A Mixed-Methods Study of How Sales Managers Align Customer Mind-Set, Competencies, and Relationship to Drive Performance

Sales organizations invest heavily in leadership development and “customer centricity,” yet results often vary dramatically across sales teams, even when they use the same tools, incentives, and commercial processes. In From Competency Models to Commercial Results: A Mixed-Methods Study of How Sales Managers Align Customer Mind-Set, Competencies, and Relationship to Drive Performance, I examine why these differences persist and what frontline sales managers actually do that shapes customer-focused thinking and measurable commercial outcomes. The dissertation integrates three leadership “pathways” that firms routinely try to develop: what managers do (sales management competencies), how they connect (leader-member exchange/relationship quality), and what managers and salespeople believe (customer mind-set). It combines multilevel survey evidence from Latin American B2B agribusiness sales teams (214 salespeople nested in 38 managers) with firm-recorded performance outcomes (revenue, volume, profit margin; 144 salespeople nested in 35 managers) and in-depth interviews with 22 frontline sales managers across 18 countries to capture lived leadership practice.

Across studies, a consistent message emerges: customer-centric strategy is realized (or lost) in everyday manager-salesperson interactions. Salespeople develop a stronger customer mind-set when they perceive their manager as broadly competent and when their dyadic relationship quality (LMX) is high; however, the manager’s own customer mind-set does not automatically “translate” into the team's customer mind-set. When linked to objective outcomes, results are outcome-specific rather than uniform: manager customer mind-set shows positive associations with growth outcomes (revenue and volume) and marginally positive association with profit margin. Sales management competencies do not show strong direct effects on growth, but their association with outcomes becomes more positive when relationship quality (LMX) is high. Notably, LMX is not simply “more is better”: it shows negative direct associations in some models, yet it acts as a boundary condition, amplifying the impact of managerial competencies on performance while creating a compensatory pattern in which the association between salesperson customer mind-set and performance is strongest when LMX is lower. Finally, interviews explain why competency “clusters” often blur statistically: managers describe leadership as integrated, episode-level practice (coaching and performance management happening in the same conversation), structured by cadence and digital tools but driven by human sensemaking, and dominated by boundary work across customers, headquarters, and cross-functional partners, under a dual mandate of delivering numbers through people.

Practical takeaway: leadership development works best when it moves beyond siloed competency checklists toward (1) integrated development of core managerial behaviors, (2) deliberate investment in high-quality manager-salesperson relationships, and (3) organizational systems that support boundary work, resilience, and disciplined cadence, because that is where customer-centric intent becomes commercial results.

• Promovenda: Simona Kruisinga Bucsea
• Promotor: Prof. dr. Dimitri Mortelmans
• Date: Monday 23 February 2026, 3 PM
• Location: Antwerp Management School (Boogkeers 5, 2000 Antwerp)
• Language: English

The defence is followed by a reception; please confirm your attendance by February 13th using the online registration form.  

Balancing Security and Economics. The Political Economy of Investment Screening in the EU. 

Foreign investment screening concerns the practice of governments, through law and regulation, to exert control over the entry and establishment of foreign firms in strategic industries and sectors. The growing emphasis and attention to the investment screening mechanisms in politics, academia and the press, reflects the evolving contentious global geopolitical landscape and is exemplary of the shift in perception of governments towards foreign investment specifically and trade and investment more broadly.

In the EU, investment screening became an important pillar of the Commission’s strategic autonomy and later economic security agenda, and from 2019 onwards, all EU member states adopted and adapted their own rules on the control of foreign investments. Yet, In the adoption of investment screening legislation, member states are forced to find a new balance between openness to foreign investment and security related objectives.

This PhD delves into the dynamics that underpin this balancing act by focussing systematically on the interplay between the desire of states to retain a competitive and attractive investment environment while simultaneously seeking to safeguard and pursue security objectives. Specifically, in this dissertation I (1) advance a typology that categorizes and distinguishes between geoeconomic policies and geopoliticised economic policies, setting the stage for the subsequent analyses, (2) provide an explanation for how strategic dynamics of competition for FDI on the one hand and the need to cooperate on FDI screening on the other hand shaped the negotiations of the regulation of FDI screening at the EU level, (3) show how states individually find their own balance between security and economics which can account for variation in investment screening mechanisms at the domestic member state level, and lastly (4) trace how the structure of state-industry governance shapes sector-level responses.

• Promovenda: Floor Doppen
• Promotor: Prof. dr. Dirk De Bièvre
• Date: Friday 27 February 2026, 3 PM - 5 PM
• Location: Stadscampus, Klooster van de Grauwzusters (Lange St-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerp)
• Language: English

The defence is followed by a reception; please confirm your attendance by February 20 by e-mailing floor.doppen@uantwerpen.be.   

Media Reception and Identity Construction of Turkish Young People in Urban, Rural and Diasporic Contexts (İstanbul, Emirdağ and Brussels)

This dissertation explores the identity construction and media reception of young audiences at the nexus of media and urban, rural, and diasporic spaces. My aim is to examine how media are embedded in the daily lives of young audiences across various socio-cultural and geographical contexts. The spaces of Istanbul, Emirdağ, and Brussels were specifically chosen as case studies due to their distinctive socio-cultural environments, dynamics, and rhythms of everyday life. They possess distinct television and film cultures while also being interconnected with Turkish film and TV culture at local, national, transnational, and trans-local levels. The multi-sited nature of this research enables comparisons across different regions, allowing for the examination of how audiences engage with and interpret media texts in the digital age. Specifically, this approach enables an understanding of how audiences converge around film and television, while also highlighting emerging trends across various areas. The first and second parts focus on the theoretical and methodological background of the dissertation, while the third part presents empirical case studies that explore various aspects of audiences, television, cinema culture, and reception in urban, rural, and diasporic contexts. The urbanity, rurality, diaspora, and media (television and cinema) relations are explored. The empirical part, consisting of three chapters, explores different aspects of audiences, spaces, and identity issues in everyday life. These three chapters rely on qualitative audience research based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 79 respondents, spread over the three research sites. This research shed light on contemporary television and cinema culture in a multi-sited context. The first empirical chapter examines the reception of popular Turkish series in urban, rural, and diasporic contexts. The second empirical chapter explores the gendered television culture among Turkish youth. The third empirical chapter discusses the meaning of cinema-going practices among emerging adults. Finally, the concluding section summarizes the dissertation's major findings and indicates the significance of this study.

• Promovenda: Fatma Orhan Tahrali
• Promotor: Prof. dr. Philippe Meers
• Date: Monday 18 May 2026, 5 PM
• Location: Stadscampus, Hof van Liere, F. de Tassiszaal (Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp)
• Language: English

The defence is followed by a reception; please confirm your attendance by May 10 by e-mail (fatma.orhantahrali@uantwerpen.be).