Dissertation

From a research project on the internet and citizen participation it has become a 450 pages dissertation entitled “Hacking the Law: An Analysis of Internet-based Campaigning on Digital Rights in the European Union”. The dissertation was submitted to the Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres at the Université libre de Bruxelles on August 17, 2011 and successfully defended in public on October 22, 2011.

You can find the abstract here. I am currently in the process of revising the dissertation for publication. Several findings are already presented in journal articles. Please email me if you have further questions or comments about the dissertation or my research.

My current post-doctoral research at the Oxford Internet Institute extends the dissertation research by focusing on the analysis of discourse networks surrounding internet blocking proposals in France, Germany, the UK and the European Union.

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During the PhD, I was lucky enough to attend the European Media and Communication Doctoral Summer School, from July to August 6, 2008, in Tartu,
Estonia as well as the Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme, July 6-17, 2009, Brisbane, Australia.

SDP09: the group!

Both summer schools turned out to be decisive moments in my young academic life. The ECREA one was oriented towards communication theory and practice. Being with 45 enthousiastic students from across Europe and Mexico was a thrilling experience as well as most of the lessons (but not all) we followed there. Tartu definitely made me feel connected to a whole bunch of young scholars trying to figure their way out of PhD work in a European setting.

SPD09 was special for many reasons. First of all, because it took place at the Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries Faculty in Brisbane, Australia, a place dear to me for having spent one year in Geelong, Australia in 2000-2001. Second, SDP09 was an exciting networking experience. I met there many persons I deeply respect, some with who I keep on collaborating with. Just to name one example, we decided to all write a collaborative book together that has been published by Peter Lang under the title Nexus: New Intersections in Internet Research. Third, last but not least, it was an amazing human experience, to meet many exciting and interesting persons from across the world and spend time together was an incredible experience!

Nils and me presenting at SDP09