Jan Loisen (*2023)

The dual nature of media is one of the main topics Jan Loisen discussed with students in their introductory course to communication studies. Media belonging to the cultural domain and being an economic business immediately raises interesting questions on how media industries and content can both be economically sustainable and socially relevant. He interest lied in the study of how these tensions are dealt with in national, European and global policy forums. In the media domain cluster, he therefore participated in fundamental and policy research projects analyzing media policy at the intersection of economic and cultural concerns and interests. In addition, he was very much interested and involved in the development and organization of education programs regarding communication sciences, in which these research topics returned throughout discussions with students.

He was a member of SMIT since 2002, initially combining doctoral research with policy analysis and advice. After obtaining his PhD (VUB, 2009) concerning the role of international organizations such as WTO and Unesco in media policy development, he gradually took on more teaching activities next to research. He was an assistant professor at the Communication Studies Department and its Chair of the Education Board, which oversees several BA & MA programs including the Digital Communication Leadership Erasmus Mundus Master (DCLead, of which he was the VUB’s Consortium Board Representative).  He also continued preparing and promoting ongoing research projects, ranging from the set-up of the European Expert Network on Culture and Audiovisual (EENCA) to the supervision of PhD research projects on media flows and emerging media organizations in an international context.

In 2023, Jan Loisen sadly passed away. You can find his in memoriam here.