Rens Vliegenthart and Sanne Kruikemeier join the Strategic Communication group

Rens Vliegenthart studied Political Science and Social Cultural Sciences at the VU Amsterdam. During that time he became interested in the media’s role in political campaigns. In 2007, he defended his PhD Thesis ‘Framing Immigration and Integration’, about the political and public debate about immigration and integration in the Netherlands, with distinction. After earning his PhD, he worked at the University of Amsterdam, where he has been a professor of Media and Society since 2013. He has been working as Scientific Director at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) since 2018.

Vliegenthart specialises in (digital) content analysis of media, and he researches the long-term effects of media coverage on society, on citizens and public opinion, and on politicians and political decision-making. He is currently working on a variety of projects including a comparative study into the national resistance to scientific knowledge.

Sanne Kruikemeier

Sanne Kruikemeier is currently an Associate Professor in Political Communication and Journalism at the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR). Her research focuses on the consequences and implications of digital communications on individuals and society. She is specialised in interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approaches, combining insights from a variety of disciplines with survey data, big data, observational data, experimental data and eye-tracking data.

Kruikemeier has recently published papers on how politicians use social media to reach citizens, political online targeting, online journalism and changes in media use. She researches whether recent developments in the digital media landscape have consequences in terms of the political knowledge, interests and behaviours of citizens. She is in charge of large research projects into political conflicts, data-driven targeting and the role of journalism in the changing media landscape.

‘Real’ information

Vliegenthart and Kruikemeier want to give a fresh impetus to research in Wageningen into the communication processes surrounding large contemporary issues, such as sustainability. Vliegenthart: “Media and communication play very important roles in a wide range of social issues. It is important to understand why and how social issues end up on the political agenda. What makes people change their behaviours and live more sustainably?” Kruikemeier: “On social and other digital media, opinions are being expressed all the time. What impact does this have? It is important to know about this.”

The constant and rapidly changing information environment is an important factor in this research, says Vliegenthart: “News is everywhere, and misinformation and disinformation are often difficult to distinguish from ‘real’ information. And social actors often struggle to reach, engage and convince their audiences despite their use of carefully devised communication strategies.” Kruikemeier: “Digital communication can play a major role here. The dangers of digital media are often addressed, but digital media can also be used to provide people with ‘real’ information - through sophisticated information campaigns, for example.”

Meaningful knowledge

In education, Kruikemeier wants to focus on transferring meaningful knowledge. One way of making communication sciences meaningful to students is by linking case studies from current and social issues to the theories that students need to learn. Vliegenthart believes that it is important to focus on trends - like media coverage and digitisation - and to thus prepare students for the complex issues these developments involve. This requires thorough theoretical and methodological knowledge.