Projects Lab MediaLab

Linking euroscepticism and populism: causes and consequences

What-if: Advanced Simulations for Testing the Effect of the Information Environment on the Functioning of Democracy

Excelență în cercetarea științifică. Dezvoltarea infrastructurii de cercetare interdisciplinară din SNSPA

Abstract: O1. Dezvoltarea infrastructurii logistice aferente cercetării științifice în domeniul Științelor Comunicării, până la 16 decembrie 2022, prin crearea unui website profesionist al Centrului de Cercetare în Comunicare (CCC) și a unei baze digitale care să permită diseminarea rezultatelor cercetării și să contribuie la creșterea vizibilității activității de cercetare din SNSPA. O2. Creșterea gradului de conștientizare a min. 30 de cercetători SNSPA, în domeniul Științelor Comunicării și domenii conexe, până la 1 octombrie 2022, cu privire la necesitatea dezvoltării și menținerii unor profiluri publice active pe principalele platforme de prezentare a rezultatelor cercetării. O3. Identificarea a min. 10 tineri cercetători (cu potențial de excelență), în Științele Comunicării și domenii conexe, neafiliați unui laborator de cercetare din SNSPA, până la 1 decembrie 2022, și dezvoltarea aptitudinilor de cercetare ale acestora, prin includerea acestora în laboratoarele de cercetare. O4. Sprijinirea activităților de cercetare și publicare pentru membrii CCC sau Center for EU Communication Studies (CECS), până la 16 decembrie 2022, prin asigurarea bazei materiale aferente acestor activități. O5. Crearea unui raport care să ofere recomandări în vederea dezvoltării unei structuri centrale la nivel de SNSPA, care să se ocupe de toate activitățile de raportare a cercetării la nivel instituțional.

What are Opinions? Integrating Theory and Methods for Automatically Analyzing Opinionated Communication

Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media

THE EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES - RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

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Setting the agenda in the new media landscape

Abstract: Drawing upon one of the most disputed yet relevant theories in mass communication research, the agenda-setting theory and its ramifications – intermedia agenda-setting and network agenda-setting –, this project aims at revealing particularities of today’s media environment in what regards the sources of media information (intermedia agenda-setting), the way objects (topics) and attributes transfer from the media to the public agenda (network agenda-setting), and the predictors of media consumption behavior. By means of mixed methodologies, namely quantitative content analysis, semi-structured in-depth interviews, mind-mapping survey and sociological survey, the current project focuses on (1) investigating the degree of reciprocity between the traditional media agenda and the new/ social media agenda, (2) revealing the main media topics, their order of priority and the attributes associated with them, both in a period when an important event takes place and in a routine period, (3) analyzing if and how the main media topics, their order of priority and the attributes associated with them are transferred from the media to the public agenda, and (4) determining patterns of media consumption in today’s environment and how they are moderated by socio-demographic, individual and contextual variables. The main goal of the project is to investigate the characteristics of both the media and the public, in the attempt to reach comprehensive, reality-based conclusions about today’s media landscape and media effects. The value of the project is defined through the aforementioned goal, which represents a true challenge for researchers, mainly because, due to the constant evolution of technology, media and public-related issues are rather difficult to address; technological development is continually multiplying media outlets, is contributing to audience fragmentation, and even to creating the so-called “filter bubbles” or “echo chambers”.

Communicating science to young generations: Metaphors our children learn by

Abstract: Metaphors and analogies are key components of human cognition. They occur in all areas of human experience and imply highly sophisticated cognitive processes in which two conceptual domains (a source and a target) are mapped together so that knowledge from the source domain is transferred to the target in a way that inferences can be drawn, and new knowledge arises. It is their capacity to generate new meanings, to evoke new (mental) images that allow us to 'see' things from a different perspective that makes the use of metaphors and analogies indispensable to education, especially to science teaching and learning. Metaphors are efficient and attractive ways to explain abstract ideas in familiar terms, and they provide the basis for understanding core concepts from physics (e.g. light in terms of 'waves'), chemistry (e.g. links between molecules as chemical 'bonding') and biology (e.g. synaptic receptor as 'key-lock mechanism'). This project aims to examine the metaphors and analogies used in Romanian science textbooks for lower secondary education (5th to 8th grade) to explain abstract scientific ideas and to communicate them to students. Furthermore, the project seeks to explore how science metaphors and analogies are understood and misunderstood by young learners and the implications that (mis-) understanding complex scientific ideas might have for students' preparedness to make sense of the world we live in and, ultimately, for their future engagement with and interest in science.

Effects of hate speech in social media

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Metaphors of solidarity and diversity in Romanian social studies textbooks

Abstract: There is widespread recognition of the important role played by metaphors in education, especially in mediating the acquisition of new knowledge (e.g. Cameron 2003, Littlemore 2001, Littlemore & Low 2006). Metaphors provide the means to conceive and explain abstract, complex concepts and to convey these concepts linguistically, visually and in virtually any other mode in the educational process. As multimodal repositories of officially-sanctioned knowledge, school textbooks are at the same time ‘holders’ of abstract ideas that are made available to students through analogies with other (simpler, more concrete) concepts. This research project aims to analyze metaphors of solidarity and diversity in Romanian social studies textbooks for 11- and 12-years-olds. The importance of school textbooks in the construction and reproduction of social norms and values is widely acknowledged and researched (Fuchs & Bock 2018). Assuming that the way in which abstract concepts are represented in textbooks may influence how children understand the world they live in and how they act in this world, we focus on two values that are considered crucial to the European construction: solidarity and diversity. Drawing on qualitative methods of text and image analysis we ask: (1) how these abstractions are made tangible through metaphoric language and visuals in textbooks for children in formative years of their political socialization, and (2) what this may mean for their future as European citizens.

Quality in higher education: internationalization and database fof the development of Romanian education

The State of the Nation The development of an innovative instrument for grounding the development of public policies in Romania

Abstract: The project contributes to operationalizing one or several of the key results of the Strategy for Consolidating Public Administration 2014-2020 and the Operational Programme Administrative Capacity – Applicant’s guide 2015: The system of indicators concerning the state of Romanian society, The State of the Nation data aggregator, the public opinion barometers and the public policy project for using research in supporting decisions contribute to reaching specific objective 1.1, result 2 of OPAC, applying the evidence-based policies system in central authorities and public institutions, including ex ante evaluation of the impact. Optimising the Applicant’s institutional capacity and the training programme aimed at political decision-makers and civil servants for using The State of the Nation data aggregator and the research results for supporting decisions and policies – contribute to reaching specific objective 1.1 OPAC result 5 – improved knowledge and abilities of staff from central authorities and public institutions; The project The State of the Nation helps reach General Objective II of the Strategy for Consolidating Public Administration, “Implementing an efficient management in public administration – Consolidating strategic planning and improving the process of evaluating the impact of regulations and public consultations; Improving the process of evaluating the impact of regulations and public consultations, specified in the Strategy for Consolidating Public Administration (Specific objective II.1) will be supported by the project’s activities, as the project will aggregate and synthesize public data, with an important role in supporting decisions, and will also evaluate citizens’ perceptions on various dimensions of a country’s development; The project The State of the Nation contributes to reaching Specific Objective II.6 of the Strategy for Consolidating Public Administration – “Quality, research and innovation in public administration”, with a focus on “best practices, research and innovation”. The project implementation will facilitate the identification of areas where public administration officials could collaborate with the academia and the establishment of strategic partners and networks for information and best practices exchange; The project contributes to reaching specific objective IV.3 – “The establishment of a structure coordinated by the Prime Minister, with tasks in monitoring and appraising performance in public services” through its main objective, developing a multi-dimensional system of indicators which will allow an accurate radiography of Romania’s and regions’ situation, and the evaluation of public perception. The State of the Nation project is complementary to a series of initiatives of the Secretariat-General of the Government (SGG), and is part of a strategic projects portfolio, meant to consolidate the institutional capacity of public administration on decision support and public policies design.

Internationalization, equity and University management for a qualitative Higher Education

Populist Political Communication in Europe: Comprehending the Challenge of Mediated Political Populism for Democratic Politics

Euroentrepreneurship: university qualifications for the europeanization of the Romanian society

Euroscepticism and populism in the 2014 EU Parliament elections

Developing the Draft Strategic Framework for Increasing Tertiary Education Attainment, Quality, and Efficiency

Metaphors the Crisis Lives By: An Inquiry Into Metaphorical Framing of the U.S. Financial Crisis (Fulbright Senior Award)

Abstract: Metaphors shape the reality in which we live today. They also facilitate our understanding of this reality by translating complex and abstract issues into simpler and more familiar terms. In light of the cognitive turn in metaphor theory, much scholarly work focuses on the analysis of metaphorical thinking underlying our understanding of politics and economy. Given my professional interests and background, the research I propose has a three-pronged goal: to identify metaphors used in newspapers to frame the U.S. financial crisis, to examine the functions that metaphors had in providing therein alternative framings of the financial crisis and to explore the factors that motivated the U.S. journalists’ choice of particular metaphors to communicate about the topic. I hope that the outcome of my research will impact on further work on metaphor use, discourse analysis and journalism.

Public Policies in Higher Education: A Necessary Premise for Romania’s development

Eurosfera sub presiune. Criza economică în România: încadrarea mediatică și percepția socială

Instrumente şi mecanisme de creştere şi facilitare a accesului la învăţământul superior bazate pe dezvoltarea parteneriatelor orizontale şi verticale între instituţii de învăţământ, structuri centrale şi locale ale sistemului educaţional şi actori sociali/sectoriali

Instruments and mechanisms of growth and facilitation of higher education access based on horizontal and vertical partnerships among institutions of education, central and local structures of the educational system and social actors

The media construction of europeanization as a public problem in the context of the European integration of Romanian society

Intercultural communication in the European context. Construction of a Conjunctive paradigm on the new rapport between national cultures and the emergence of European cultural identity