(10th February 2022) On 10 and 11 February, the Department of Communication Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel hosted the 2022 online edition of the Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap. This year’s Etmaal conference has put ‘Diversity, democracy & communication’ as its core theme. It has addressed challenges related to diversity and their impact on democratic societies: issues that are closely related to emerging and reconfigured media and communications infrastructures and practices.
Prof. Natali Helberger, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies at the University of Amsterdam, has delivered a keynote lecture titled “Fireworks and democracy” that focused on emerging European regulatory frameworks including the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), Data Governance ACT, AI Regulation & PMT Regulation. For the following two days, communication academics from the Netherlands and Flanders presented their papers in 14 simultaneous sessions, involving 374 registered participants in total.
In parallel, the General Assembly of NeFCA has awarded several scholars for their remarkable contribution to the field.
Sanne Kruikemeier (University of Amsterdam) was awarded the NeFCA Young Scholar Award.
Roel Lutkenhaus (Erasmus University Rotterdam) received the NeFCA Dissertation Award.
Willem Buyens and Peter Van Aelst (University of Antwerp) received the prize for ‘Best article by a junior author’ (2021).
Sofie Vranken (KU Leuven) received The Frieda Saeys Prize
On 9 September 2022, the Department of Communication Sciences will host the ‘Dag van de Communicatiewetenschap’, a live event in Brussels specifically for the conference participants. The final program will include workshops, keynote speeches and panels and a long-awaited social event.
Organizing team at the Department of Communication Studies:
Prof. Dr. Tim Raats (imec-SMIT, VUB)
Prof. Dr. Kevin Smets (Echo, VUB)
Maximilian Grönegras (Echo, VUB)
Daniël Jurg (imec-SMIT, VUB)
Christel Vaeremans