The Faculty of Social Sciences of KU Leuven, invites scholars to apply for a full‐time research professorship in the Department Communication Sciences. This position is funded by the Special Research Fund (BOFZAP), established by the Flemish Government.
We are looking for motivated and internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with educational competence in the field of Big Tech governance, digital media platforms and their impact on society. The appointment is expected to start on September 1, 2026. Applications will be evaluated in parallel and independently by 1) the KU Leuven Research Council in a competitive process across academic domains and 2) the faculty advisory committee. During the first 10 years, the teaching obligations as a research professor will be limited. Afterwards, the position will be transformed into a regular professorship.
Digital media platforms play a central role in contemporary society. From social interaction to political decision-making or economic transactions – the platform society transforms the way we communicate, consume information and participate in the public debate. This development brings opportunities as well as challenges, such as the increased power concentration of Big Tech, the impact of algorithmic governance on democracy and new forms of social and economic inequality.
KU Leuven invites excellent researchers to apply to a BOFZAP position as research professor. This prestigious position, funded by Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF), provides the opportunity to develop your own research group in a leading academic environment. The first ten years you will primarily focus on research with a limited amount of teaching. After this period, you will gain a regular, full-time position with tasks of teaching, research and services that fit the needs of the department Communication Sciences and the Faculty Social Sciences.
KU Leuven is a leading academic institution in Europe and is the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure. It is the university’s mission to provide excellence in academic education and research and to offer a distinguished service to society. Owing to KU Leuven’s cutting-edge research, KU Leuven is a charter member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and is consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in Europe.
Within KU Leuven and the department of Communication Sciences, the research unit ‘Media Culture and Policy’ studies the relation between people, media and culture and, in doing so, the researchers develop evidence-based insights in socially relevant issues such as digitalization, misinformation, polarization and inequalities. The research group combines qualitative, quantitative and computational methods and its members collaborate with various (international) academic institutions, policy makers and media professionals to realize societal impact.
The research unit ‘Media Culture and Policy’ at the department of Communication Sciences searches for a highly motivated, talented and productive researcher working on Big Tech governance, digital media platforms and their impact on society. The position provides the opportunity to contribute to our research- and, over time, the educational programme of Communication Sciences with specific topics like the nature and influence of culture industries, Big Tech, digital platforms, data-governance, social-cultural inequalities and the future of democracy in a globalized world.
Website unit
Duties
Research
It is part of the assignment of the appointed candidate to develop, within the domain of Big Tech governance, digital media platforms and their impact on society, an international, competitive research programme, to pursue excellent scientific results at an international level and to support and promote national and international research partnerships. The candidate must meet a strong research profile or have the potential to do so. In addition, the candidate is expected to have a multidisciplinary attitude and a willingness to cooperate intensively with other researchers and research units at KU Leuven, Faculty of Social Sciences and department of Communication Sciences.
The vacancy we offer is ‘open rank’ so outstanding researchers in different phases of their career can apply for this position – from ‘junior’ (postdoc) to ‘senior’ (professor). It is expected from the candidate in this position to actively apply for prestigious research funds to set up and develop an innovative, cutting-edge and international research programme focused on Big Tech Governance and/or cultural industries in relation to society, with specific attention paid to the role of digital media platforms in societal polarization, inequality and democratic processes. The overarching perspective is the political economy, from which global power relations and economic dynamics are connected to the challenges of data-governance, algorithmic transparency, privacy issues, power concentration and various forms of inequality. This theoretical perspective should be grounded in an empirical approach in which qualitative-, quantitative- or mixed methods are used to analyze the complex relations between industry, technology and culture. The candidate has an excellent track record within this domain of research, as demonstrated by a PhD-dissertation of high quality, demonstrable impact on the field of research and the acquisition of research funds.
The candidate:
- Is an excellent, internationally oriented researcher and develops a research programme at the forefront in the field of Big Tech governance, digital media platforms and their impact on society.
- Strengthens existing research lines and brings complementary and/or additionally new expertise by working closely with the members of the research unit.
- Publishes at the highest scientific level
- Supervises master students, PhD students and postdocs at a high international level.
- Aims to acquire competitive research funding from national and/or international agencies and submits effective research project proposals for this purpose.
- Establishes both within KU Leuven, national and international partnerships in the context of the research programme.
- Strives for excellence in research and provides a contribution to the international research reputation of the research unit ‘Media Culture and Policy’ within the Department of Communication Sciences and KU Leuven.
Teaching
The candidate will supervise PhD-students and postdocs within the domain of research outlined above, but also master theses of students from the (Dutch and/or international) Master programme in Communication Sciences at KU Leuven. In the starting years there will be limited teaching, yet in the course of the BOFZAP period of ten years, it is expected to teach on the acquired academic expertise in the field.
Although the position regards a research professorship at the start of employment, the candidate is expected to gradually contribute to state of the art teaching.
The candidate also contributes to the pedagogic project of the faculty/university. He/she develops teaching in accordance with KU Leuven’s vision on activating and research‐based education and makes use of the possibilities for the educational professionalization offered by the faculty and the university.
Service
Networks and academic leadership: It is pivotal for the BOFZAP to show academic leadership and collegiality: the candidate is a strong team-player, both inspiring and supporting to colleagues, PhD-students and postdocs and is strongly engaged with the research group Media Culture & Policy and the department Communication Sciences. The candidate develops research projects with colleagues; collaborates with international partners and universities, NGO’s and/or governmental organizations, to develop societal relevant insights and contribute to the public debate on industry, technology, democracy and inequality. Through a strong international position and interdisciplinary collaboration, the candidate contributes to the development of the research domain, theoretical innovation and societal impact. Publication and dissemination are key in this respect: the BOFZAP applicant already publishes in renowned, high-impact academic journals about themes like platform society, digital communication, cultural inequality, technology, and democracy. In addition, active participation in public fora and attendance international conferences is essential to disseminate research findings and, in doing so, contribute to scientific and societal progress.
Requirements
- You have a PhD in Communication Sciences or another relevant discipline in the social sciences and has a strong research focus on themes like Big Tech-governance and/or digital platforms and/or cultural industries in relation to inequality and democracy. Interest in or experience with interdisciplinary research is desirable. Essential, however, is an outstanding skill to develop innovative theoretical perspectives based on systematic empirical research and/or to creatively apply theory to empirical case-studies. Preferably, the candidate combines macro-perspectives (e.g., political economy) and micro-perspectives (e.g., audience research) in research, with special attention to inequality. Ample experience with various methods is mandatory (either quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods). Depending on seniority, the applicant has experience with writing research proposals and applying for / requiring research funds and leading research teams. The candidate has expertise in building and consolidating academic and societal networks. Through the active engagement with international partners, NGO’s and governmental organizations, the candidate contributes to insights that are relevant for policy-making and public debates on technology, democracy and inequality. In addition, the candidate has a clear vision on the role of the university in the platform society and the broader societal impact of academic research.If you have recently obtained your PhD, it is important that you support your research and growth potential with academic references.
- You have an strong research profile in the field and an indisputable research integrity.
- The quality of your research is proven by publications
- International research experience is considered as an important advantage.
- You have demonstrable qualities related to academic education. Teaching experience is a plus.
- You possess organizational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also have leadership skills within a university context.
- Your spoken and written English is excellent. The official administrative language used at KU Leuven is Dutch. If you do not speak Dutch (or do not speak it well) at the start of employment, KU Leuven will provide language training to enable you to take part in administrative meetings. Before teaching courses in Dutch or English, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch resp. English to the required standard.
Offer
- We offer full-time employment in an intellectually challenging environment. KU Leuven is an research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. Our university is highly inter- and multidisciplinary focused and strives for international excellence. In this regard, we actively collaborate with research partners in Belgium and abroad. We provide our students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
- Depending on your qualifications and academic experience, you will be appointed to or tenured in one of the grades of the senior academic staff: assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor. In principle, junior researches are appointed as assistant professor on the tenure track for a period of 5 years; after this period and a positive evaluation, they are permanently appointed as an associate professor.
- You will work in Leuven, a historic and dynamic and vibrant city located in the heart of Belgium, within twenty minutes from Brussels, the capital of the European Union, and less than two hours from Paris, London and Amsterdam.
- KU Leuven is well set to welcome foreign professors and their family and provides practical support with regard to immigration and administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, …
- In order to facilitate scientific onboarding and accelerate research in the first phase a starting grant of 110.000 euro is offered to new professors, subject to eligibility criteria set by KU Leuven.
More information
Full application and selection procedure Research Professorships (BOFZAP)
Interested?
More information on the content of the job can be obtained from the academic contact person Prof. Dr. Leen d’Haenens (head research unit Media Culture & Policy), email:
[email protected].
U can also contact Prof. Dr. Stef Aupers (chair department Communication Sciences), email:
[email protected]; Prof. Dr. Steven Eggermont (dean, Faculty Social Sciences), email:
[email protected].
More information on the guidelines, regulations and application file is available from Ms. Kristin Vermeylen ([email protected] , tel. +32 16 32 09 07) or Ms. Martine van Nierop ([email protected] , tel. +32 16 32 76 98).
For a full description of the procedure and information on annexes and templates, follow the link 'Full application and selection procedure Research Professorships (BOFZAP)' under 'More information'. Please read this before you start your application.
Please submit your application in English. For problems with online applying, please contact [email protected].
KU Leuven places great importance on research integrity and ethical conduct and will therefore ask you to sign an integrity statement upon appointment.
KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.
