The fulltime professor position will be held within the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, a research unit within the Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven (Belgium). KU Leuven represents a leading academic institution in Europe that is currently the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure. The university’s mission is to provide excellence in academic education and research and to offer a distinguished service to society. Owing to KU Leuven’s cutting-edge research, KU Leuven is a charter member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and is consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in Europe.

You will be expected to develop an international research program, aim at excellent scientific output of international level, and support and promote the School for Mass Communication Research in national and international research collaborations. These research efforts should be situated in the broad field of digital media effects. Digital media technologies influence all spheres of society and social life. These digital media technologies and the related digitalization bring along an immense potential of growth in a multitude of spheres of human activity. At the same time, digital media and their effects have been criticized for having a questionable role in negative transformation processes of society and human relationships. The opportunities and threats that digital media generate in today’s society are expected to be central in the research of the applicant. More precisely, your research focuses on the development of innovative theory and advanced research techniques in this field. You have a strong background in predominantly quantitative research methods and have demonstrated research excellence in various ways (e.g., top ranked ISI publications, awards, societal impact etc.).

With this vacancy we aim to further strengthen the research and complement the expertise at SMCR. We are looking for a candidate with a strong experience in the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie changes in wellbeing or social cohesion brought along by digital media uses with the ultimate aim to use this knowledge to address the risks digitalization poses and empower young citizens living in a digitalized world.

Please apply before February 5, 2024.

More information is available here: https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/60258809?hl=en&lang=en