Expertise

My main expertise can be identified in the critical understanding of the socio-cultural and political relationship between fashion and masculinities. Thus, my academic work develops at the intersection of three specific fields of research: (men's) fashion studies, critical studies on men and masculinities, and queer studies. My PhD project, funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and conducted in the Faculty of Social Sciences, represented the first attempt at analyzing Antwerp fashion through the lens of the queering of masculinities. The analysis developed through this research project, which focused on the critical fashion practices of internationally recognized Antwerp-trained designers like Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs, Raf Simons, Bernhard Willhelm and Glenn Martens, has allowed a multifaceted understanding of the relationship between fashion and masculinity through the perspectives of gender, sexuality, and the body, and most importantly, how in the Antwerp fashion scene we can identify an incubator for vanguardist fashion practices characterized by a particular attitude toward designing menswear and representing the male body. This study was based on a qualitative content analysis of (audio)visual and textual materials collected during archival research in Belgian and international (fashion) museums and interviews with relevant personalities from the field who have first-hand experience with the rise of Antwerp fashion. Specifically, after having undertaken a case study approach to achieve a sufficiently in-depth and specific understanding of the selected designers' critical fashion practices, I analyzed the materials collected during archival research through a visual social semiotic reading. The latter can be considered an instrument to reveal things that are not evident at first sight while also bringing to light contradictions between verbal and visual messages. Throughout the research, visual social semiotics helped to highlight how the structure of (audio)visual materials contributed to the representation of non-conforming masculinities. After having addressed the meaning of normative masculinities in relation to (representations of) the dressed body in the theoretical framework, the analysis sought to pinpoint more clearly how the selected designers subvert and transform oppressive and monolithic ideas of masculinity by using the adorned body as a social and political site of opposition that favors individuality and self-determination. The detailed analysis of (audio)visual materials was then supported by the analysis of text-based objects, which provided insights into the designers’ opinions on the critical impetus of their works and on their thinking about gender, masculinity, and sexuality. Fashion invitations, press releases, show reviews as well as newspaper and magazine articles further helped to decode and contextualize the meanings of the collections. Thus, the juxtaposition of (audio)visual and textual evidence provided a method to solidify the meanings emerging from the images or, at times, to highlight the discrepancies between visual and textual meanings. Starting in November 2023, a new postdoctoral project, always funded by the FWO, has allowed me to move my investigation on the critical understanding of the relationship between men and fashion to the realm of everyday life. Consequently, my analysis has moved to the realm of qualitative ethnography. To understand the impact of gendered norms and normative assumptions of masculinity on the dressed male body in everyday life, the project is mainly conducted through the wardrobe studies method, which, by bridging material culture and embodied research methods, is ideal to reconcile the materiality of clothing with the practice of wearing them within wider relational and social contexts.

Technique

Archival research Visual social semiotics Qualitative semi-structured interviews Wardrobe studies Embodied research methods Material culture

Users

The primary target group that can make good use of this expertise or services is academia, which includes professors, students, and researchers in subjects like fashion studies, cultural studies, queer studies, critical studies on men and masculinities, and other related fields. Any context that provides a course or module on men's fashion cultures and on gender and sexuality in fashion can benefit from this expertise for both graduate and undergraduate students. This could potentially be used in graduate-level research courses and other programs that aim to go beyond conventional notions of gender and sexuality in connection to clothing and the body. Because of its theoretical and methodological underpinnings, this expertise could be implemented in courses that aim to provide critical perspectives on masculinities and the male body. This expertise can also involve a secondary target, which includes media and the general audience interested in aspects related to masculinity and history, culture, and meaning in men’s fashion and dress.

Keywords

Qualitative research, Interview, Socio-cultural theory, Theoretical study, Gender and sexuality, Men's dress and fashion, Queer embodiments

I am currently working as an assistant professor in the field of Media Studies at the University of Antwerp. I’m trained in Film and Television Studies with a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Ghent University. I held positions as a Postdoctoral Fellow of the FWO, as a lecturer at Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and as visiting research fellow at The London School of Economics and Political Science and at the University of Amsterdam. My research investigates the role of media and digital culture in society with a focus on digital intimacy, identity, and communication. I worked on digital youth cultures, social media, datafication, intimacies, and sexualities. I’m currently focusing on topics such as digital reputation, people’s trust in digital media platforms, loneliness and digital media. I have an interest in critical and cultural theory, how socio-technical relations and the political-economic functioning of digital media are changing society. I’m drawing on, among others, textual, visual, and participatory research methods. I published my work in leading journals such New Media and Society, Social Media+Society, and Television and New Media. I’m co-editor of (together with Lisa Parks and Julia Velkova) of Media Backends: Digital Infrastructures and Sociotechnical Relations, soon to be published by the University of Illinois Press (May 2023). At UAntwerp, I’m a member of the Antwerp Media in Society Centre (AMSoC), and I’m teaching subjects such as Media, Power and Society, Methods in Communication Research and Digital Media Futures. In addition, I am a supervisor of master dissertations and doctorates, and I co-teach the master seminar in media studies. I was vice-chair (2016-2017) and chair (2017-2021) of the Digital Culture and Communication division of ECREA (the European Communication Research and Education Association). I’m an affiliated researcher at the Global Media Technologies & Cultures Lab (University of California at Santa Barbara, US).

Technique

Qualitative audience studies, digital ethnography, textual analysis

Users

Digital media and technology, society and culture. Qualitative audience research, digital ethnography and textual analysis.

Keywords

Digital media, Media studies

Qualitative research and advice on media representation and use, particularly concerning minorities, identity and diversity.

Technique

Qualitative approaches of media policy and production, texts and audiences, using a variety of techniques including in-depth interviews and focus groups, content analysis and document analysis.

Users

Public and private institutions including media, governments and research bureaus.

Keywords

Media studies, Transgender, Homosexuality, Sexuality, Popular media, Gender, Cultural studies, Minorities, Television, Audience analysis, Diversity

Research and advice on the framing of social debates, with a specific focus either on technological and environmental risks (GMOs, climate change, energy, etc.) or economic and political crises Research and advice on science communication and the public understanding of science, technology and the environment Mediamonitoring research on social issues for diverse organisations

Technique

framing analysis, discourse analysis, quantitative content analysis, in-depth interviewing, focus groups

Users

- Public, private or independent institutions including media, governments and research bureaus - Civil society organisations including NGOs and trade unions - Non-profit organisations

Keywords

Framing, Communication strategy, Reception studies, Discourse analysis, News content, Science popularisation, Risk communication

Social scientific research into media production, journalism pracitces, characteristics of news and changing news consumption patterns. Publications on online journalism, working conditions in journalism, media convergence, participatory journalism, user-generated content, social media and news use in a crossmedia environment.

Technique

For my research, I use different social scientific methods: surveys, content analysis, in-depth interviews, focus groups, etc.

Users

Journalists and journalism organisations Media companies Government (media policy) Civil society actors

Keywords

News selection, Journalism, Online newspapers, Media-use, Media, Newspaper, News production, Media law, Twitter

Dr. Sean Phelan is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow (July 2020 to July 2022) at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp and an Associate Professor at the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. He is a critical communication, media and journalism studies scholar. His work is informed by critical political theory, discourse theory and analysis, political economy, media sociology and cultural studies. His current research projects include a study of how the term neoliberalism is used in critical discourse, a study of the politics of social justice in digital culture, and a new project on the relationship between journalism practice and a culture of online media critique. Sean has published extensively in the field, and is best known for his work on neoliberalism and discourse theory. He has published three books: the monograph Neoliberalism, Media and the Political (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), and the edited volumes Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011; with Lincoln Dahlberg), and Scooped: The Politics and Power of Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand (AUT Media, 2012; with Verica Rupar and Martin Hirst). He has published articles in a variety of journals, including Journalism Studies, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, International Journal of Communication, Critical Discourse Studies, Journal of Language and Politics, Cultural Studies, Media, Culture & Society, and Communication, Culture and Critique. His work has been published in a number of anthologies and collections, including The Sage Handbook of Neoliberalism, The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies, and Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. He is a member of the editorial board of the journals Communication Theory, Critical Discourse Studies, Media Theory, Counterfutures: Left Thought and Practice Aotearoa, and the International Journal of Media Discourse.

Technique

Research is informed by a critical-interpretivist paradigm, with a particular strength in different discourse analysis approaches

Users

English-language audiences

Keywords

Neoliberalism, Media culture and discourse

I specialize in qualitative research that focusses on determining various cultural and historical interplays between sport, media and society. Specifically, I critically analyze how notions of sustainability manifest itself within these different interplays, i.e. which and where common grounds emerge, exist and disappear. For this, I focus on analyzing mediarepresentations of (1) social sustainability: social (in)justice as emerging via concepts such as gender, race, ethnicity and discability in sport and (2) environmental sustainability: CSR, green marketing, greenwashing and celebrity activism in sport. The primary research focus in relation to the abovementioned areas is the mediatisation of (now electric) motorsport and the societal role it continues to negatiote in a rapidly changing 21st century society. Further, my research also focusses on national and international media as well as a wide range of sporting events, including mega-events such as the Olympic Games. My methodological expertise extends to qualitative content analysis (including framing analysis, discours analysis, thematic analysis, narrative analysis, etc.), ethnographic research, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and historiographical methodologies.

Technique

I am experienced in qualitative research methodologies including framing, thematical analysis, discourse analysis, narrative analysis, thematical analysis etc. Additionally I am experienced in developing and using in-depth and semi-structured interviews.

Users

Journalists & media organisations (televsion, newspaper, social media) - (national & international) Sport clubs, sporting associations, sport organisations (national & international) For example: UEFA, FIFA, IOC, IAAF, RACB, FIA, FIM, F1 etc. Athletes, sport teams& managers (national & international) Researchers & universities

Keywords

Sport and sustainability, Sport/media communication, Sport and society

1. I made my PhD about the relationship between media and politics. The focus was on agendasetting, i.e. the extent to which the media have influence on the topics/themes that politicians deal with. 2. My current research is about political representation and inequality in representation. Central questions are: How reactive are politicians vis-à-vis public opinion? And do politicians, when making policy choices, fail to take the preferences of weaker groups in society (e.g. the poor, lower educated, women) into account, in comparison with the preferences of stronger groups?

Technique

Content analysis Surveys Survey-experiments Elite research (interviewing and surveying politicians)

Users

Journalists Politicians

Keywords

Media and politics, Political representation

I am a researcher with a specialisation in science communication. My primary interest lies in understanding the intricate ways in which the beliefs, values, and identities of science communicators influence how they convey scientific concepts and information. I am particularly captivated by how these personal elements might subtly impact their work, potentially modifying the effectiveness and perception of their communication efforts. In my prior research, I have delved deeply into the role of emotions in science communication, investigating the specific emotions that are frequently represented and understanding the strategies science communicators employ to incorporate these emotions into their work.

Technique

Mixed methods, research design, content analysis, thematic analysis, interviewing, survey design, statistical analysis, scale development, text analysis, experience sampling.

Users

Science communicators.

Keywords

Science communication

Policy enabling research and advice, research and advice for media and media related organisations, mediamonitoring research for all kinds of organisations.

Technique

Regarding production research: document analysis and expert interviews. Regarding audience research: qualitative in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and photo elicitation, and increasingly quantitative panel and experimental research. Regarding content research: quantitative and qualitative content analysis, discourse analysis and framing analysis. For each study, the group aims to combine those methods that guarantee the most valid and reliable answers to the specific research questions.

Users

- Media stakeholders - Media policy makers within media and government - Civil society organisations (including NGO’s) - Industry

Keywords

Reception studies, Political economy, Discourse analysis, Qualitative content analysis

Qualitatieve research on the lives of LGBTQ persons. Intersectional approaches. Popular Culture, sociology of music. Queer studies.

Technique

narrative analysis, oral history, cultural studies, interviews, textual analysis

Users

policy makers, ngo's, students, academics

Keywords

Popular media, Diversity, Interculturality, Qualitative analysis, Intersectional feminism, Poplar culture, Lgbt, Queer studies