We are thrilled to announce that Mariek van den Abeele, Associate Professor at the Ghent University and recipient of the 2020 ERC Starting Grant on Digital well-being, will be joining our research team for the DigiWELL project. We are excited about this collaboration, as Mariek is the leading expert on digital well-being!
DigiWELL is a large research project connecting 8 institutions led by Steriani Elavsky from the University of Ostrava. Having previously collaborated with Steriani on several projects, including Modeling the Future: Understanding the Impact of Technology on adolescent well-being (FUTURE), we are excited to embark on this new journey together along with Mariek van den Abeele.
Mariek Vanden Abeele is an Associate Professor in Digital Culture at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of Ghent University. Mariek's research focuses on digital culture: she combines media psychological and media sociological perspectives to better understand the role that digital media use plays in everyday life and society. She is particularly interested in mobile media use, along with its problematic use, impact on relationships, digital well-being, and the social implications of wearable devices. Mariek is an active member of the Mobile Communication Interest Group of ICA (International Communication Association). She is also a recipient of an 2020 ERC Starting Grant on Digital Well-being. In her project, Mariek builds on her interdisciplinary background to examine individuals' relationship to anytime, anyplace connectivity using both computational and ethnographic research approaches. In addition, Mariek works on several other (funded and unfunded) research projects with PhD students and (international) collaborators. Her work has been published in leading journals in the field of Communication Sciences, such as Communication Theory, Mobile Media & Communication, New Media & Society, and Media Psychology. Mariek has received various awards for both her teaching and her research output.
With December here and the semester wrapping up, we closed out 2024 by hosting an engaging research workshop on new trends in experimental design. It was a perfect opportunity to dive into cutting-edge methods, spark fresh ideas, and reflect on how innovation continues to drive research forward.
We published a new research report, "Cyberhate targeting the body: Young Czech people’s perceptions of cyberhate that targets weight and physical disability". Read more in the article.
