Our networks

The MIOS team is part of several other international research networks:

• COST 18115 Transnational Collaboration on Bullying, Migration and Integration at School Level
• COST IS0801 action on cyberbullying 
• DiGRA, Digital Games Research Association
• HealthNar, Health Narratives Network
• WIP, World Internet Project

Moreover, MIOS is member of several international scientific associations such as:

• The Netherlands-Flanders Communication Association (NeFCA)
• Association of Internet researchers (AoIR)
• International Communication Association (ICA)
• European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)

Narratives play an increasingly important role in (online) communication about health issues. News reporters not only report the cold facts about an upcoming epidemic, but also increasingly employ techniques that are used in novels and movies. Serious games use interactive storytelling techniques to improve the health of children. Health campaigns use celebrities and role models in order to convince a target audience to adopt healthy habits.

In spite of their increasing use, relatively little is known about the effects of narratives in a health communication context, as expertise on narratives is scattered across different disciplines.

The objectives of the HealthNar program are:

• to strengthen and consolidate the emerging field of narrative health communication and
• to establish a flourishing and solid multidisciplinary research exchange network on narratives and health.

The program does so by bringing together renowned international scholars from health psychology, media psychology, health communication, arts, and interactive communication, from the following universities:

• Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
• University of Antwerpen, Belgium: research groups MIOS and MPC
• University of Augsburg, Germany
• University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
• University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
• Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

From Radboud University, the HealthNar program is initiated by Enny Das.

The program is founded by the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES). 

• The first work package concerns coordination and management.
• The second to fourth Work Packages focus on different aspects of narrative communication, intersecting different disciplinary perspectives and theoretical approaches. Knowledge and skills will be exchanged through seminars, workshops, scientific papers, and weekly meetings between visiting and hosting researchers during the secondments.
• The fifth Work Package is concerned with synthesizing the acquired knowledge into a new research framework that will be integrated into a research proposal and published in an edited book.

For more information on the research activities that will be conducted by MIOS' researchers, you can contact Heidi Vandebosch. 

You can also find more information on the network's website