Media and Communication Studies

Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University is well-established in the area of Swedish and international research and education. In Media Studies, the digital media landscape is explored using historical and cultural perspectives that place contemporary phenomena in a historical context, so providing a deeper understanding of the present. Qualitative methods and hermeneutic approaches characterise our approach to Media Studies, along with extensive research on the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe.

Regardless of your future career, Media Studies provides an excellent foundation. Many of our former students work in professions related to the media, such as communication, journalism, PR or media production.

Knowledge of the media is central to civic education in a society that is increasingly shaped by digital media. Media and Communication Studies offers in-depth knowledge of how the media functions, how it has changed over time, how it is organised and how it influences society and culture.

Programmes & courses

Research, projects & publications

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Call for Visiting Research Fellows 2026/27– Department for Media and Communication Studies, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

Deadline 31 January 2026

The Department for Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University offers a thriving and multidisciplinary research environment with a particular focus on contemporary datafied and media-saturated societies from a critical-cultural and often historical perspective. The research at the department shares a particular focus on the Baltic and East European region. The department is based at the School of Culture and Education and is a member of the Postgraduate School for Critical Cultural Theory.

We are happy to offer several visiting research fellow positions for the academic year 2026/27. The fellows – holding a PhD – will each receive a one-time scholarship of 35.000 SEK contributing to travel and accommodation. The fellows can choose the length and timing of their stay during the academic year 2026/27 but should stay at least one month.

Fellows are expected to present their current work during one higher seminar at the department. Södertörn University has a number of guest research apartments close to campus and we are happy to put fellows in touch with the housing unit at the university. However, we are not able to assist further in finding housing in Stockholm.

In order to apply please submit a short CV (max 2 pages) and a description of project that they will be working with during their stay (max 1 page) through this application form Visiting Research Fellows 2026/27 - MCS-Södertörn – Fill out form External link.

Timeline:

Deadline for applications 31 January 2026
Notification of applicants 1 March 2026
Visiting fellowship period September 2026 – June 202

Fellows 2025/26

Hilde van den Bulck, Drexel University
Project: Epistemic Welfare

Aniko Imre, University of Southern California
Project: Illiberal Fantasies: Political Worldbuilding in Semi-Peripheral European Media

Jenny Kidd, Cardiff University
Project: AI and the Afterlives of Memory: synthetic media and the future past

James Steinhoff, University College Dublin
Project: The automation of software production

Fellows 2024/25

Aaron Shapiro, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Project: Recurring Revenue: Rent and Patronage in the Subscription Economy

Maria-Carolina Cambre, Concordia University
Project: Visual Accountability: "Show, Don’t Tell"

Fellows 2023/24

Helen Kennedy, University of Sheffield
Project: Manifesto for a good digital society

Photini Vrikki, Kings college
Project: The Data Centre Industry: Centres of Exploitation, Power, and the Public Imagination

B Camminga, ICI
Project: Sovereign Clicks: African Transgender Refugees, Migrating Mediascapes, & Digital Diasporic Voices

Caroline Bassett, University of Cambridge
Project: The Automation of Writing

Fellows 2022/23

Greg Elmer, Ryerson University, Canada
Project: Book project ”Underground Media”

Tiziano Bonini, Sociology of Culture and Communication, University of Siena
Project: Algorithmic Resistance

Bethany Berard, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Carleton University, Canada
Project: Light sensitive materials: A history of charged-couple device sensors and the dawn of digital photography

Uschi Klein, University of Brighton
Project: Vernacular photography as a form of cultural resistance during Romania’s communist era (1947-1989)

Fellows 2021/22

Maria Kyriakidou, Cardiff University, School of Journalism, Media and Culture
Project: Countering disinformation: enhancing journalistic legitimacy in public service media

Zrinjka Peruško, Department for Media and Communication, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
Project: Comparing Media Systems in CEE countries

Lynn Schofield Clark, Estlow Center for Journalism & New Media, Department of Media, Film & Journalism Studies, University of Denver
Project: Building an International Network on Young People and News

MCS has a collection of older media technologies that are used in teaching, and where seminars focusing on media history and media pedagogy are regularly organized. The collections are open to visitors on Tuesdays between 10 AM and 12 PM or by appointment. Read more about Södertörn Media Archeological Collection (SMS).

Sidinformation

Page last updated: 2025-10-27

Media and Communication Studies

Call for Visiting Research Fellows 2026/27