Theses work - Master in Communication
The programme Master in Communication specialises in various aspects of organisational- and digital-communication, and also a number of other sub-fields in the discipline.
The backdrop for this focus is that the increasingly globalized, digitalized, and specialized society we live in today poses a number of complex challenges: fostering inclusion, equality and diversity in fast-changing work environments; ensuring and strengthening mental well-being in the light of online harassment and information overload; listening and being heard in an arena of many competing voices; etc.
Our students gain skills of both a practical (e.g. regarding leadership and project management) and critical kind (e.g. regarding the representation of social groups and issues in public discourse, regarding ethical conundrums in the digital age) kind, including regarding the use of technology in communication questions (e.g. in developing digital ecosystems, in addressing the spread of mis- and dis-information, and in relation to online harassment).
Themes
- Communication technology: affects and perceptions of remote-work/-study; affordances analysis of technologies; digital ethics
- Digital communication: social media analysis (e.g. engagement); mis-/dis-information; sentiment analysis; emergent digital genres and text-practices
- Organisational communication: leadership; project management; crisis communication; (internal/external) stakeholder analysis; marketing
- Interpersonal communication: technology-preference choices in communication among familials; self-disclosure online/face-to-face; cyber-bullying
- Media and political communication: (measuring) influence and persuasion of media audiences; representation of groups/issues/topics/persons (e.g. climate change) in text and image; science communication
Timeline
Formally, the thesis course starts in mid-January. Already during October-early January, students are writing the research proposals (submitted on the date of course start). Students then work with an assigned supervisor from late-January until early-June. The thesis text is submitted mid-May and students are examined at a defence seminar in early-June. Any student not ready to defend their thesis in June goes forward for the September examination round.
Deadlines
During the September-November period, as students will be working on their research proposals during this time, which have to be submitted in mid-January of the following year.
Other information
Our programme has a recently formed Industry Advisory Panel, led by senior lecturer on the programme, Davide Girardelli.