Visiting faculty testimonial: Professor Sebastián Valenzuela

Read about Professor Sebastián Valenzuela's time as an Erasmus Mundus Visiting Professor at the Communication Science department, University of Amsterdam, in January 2015

Professor Sebastián Valenzuela, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

I had the opportunity of meeting the Erasmus Mundus Journalism students at Amsterdam and gave a class lecture on journalism in Latin America, with a particular focus on the threats and opportunities that the digitization of news has brought to the region’s media industry and audiences.

For my three-week stay at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Communication Science department, from January 13 to January 30, 2015, I co-ordinated in advance with professor Andreas Schuck, who is in charge of the Erasmus Mundus Journalism program at Amsterdam.

He was very kind in arranging a set of lectures and research presentations with different groups within the communication department, in addition to taking care of all the office-related logistics I needed in order to use UvA’s facilities. Among the formal activities, I participated on January 14 in a colloquium for communication and journalism graduate students (“Communication Science on the Spot”). In it, professor Sanne Kruikemeier interviewed me about my research on political communication, journalism and social media, followed by a Q&A session. 

On January 15 I gave a guest lecture for the department’s research institute, the School of Communication Research (ASCoR), about my published research on social media and protest behavior in Chile. On January 21 I had the opportunity of meeting the Erasmus Mundus students at Amsterdam. That day, I gave a class lecture on journalism in Latin America, with a particular focus on the threats and opportunities that the digitization of news has brought to the region’s media industry and audiences.

Lastly, on January 26, I was invited to present my research on the effects of TV crime news on public opinion to the Political Communication Research Lab at ASCoR.

During the rest of my stay, I had the time to work on several research papers and make use of UvA’s world-class research facilities. Most importantly, I had very productive meetings with faculty members with whom I share similar interests. Particularly enjoyable were the meetings I had on and off-campus with Dr Damian Trilling and Dr Judith Möller, with whom we exchanged perspectives and provided mutual feedback on current research projects. Also, professor Rens Vliegenthart provided me with very good advice on how to conduct large-scale content analysis projects.

 

On a more informal level, I had the opportunity of catching up with old acquaintances in the communication department at UvA, including Professor Claes de Vreese and a Chilean colleague, Carmina Rodríguez. Taken altogether, I am very grateful of the Erasmus program and Professor Schuck for making my visit a truly memorable, productive experience.