The University of Amsterdam is one of the country’s leading institutes for academic research and teaching. The Amsterdam School of Communications Research is a research school of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.
Scientific director: prof. dr P.C. Neijens
Research manager: dr S. Zwier
Office manager: M. Smit
ASCoR is the largest university institute for research of communication in the world. It harbours 71 academic senior researchers, 35 PhD students, a supporting staff of five persons and a variable number of research assistants.
ASCoR conducts research at an advanced level into fundamental aspects of
communication and media infrastructure, contents, and effects, in a society
characterized by an increasing importance of, and dependence on, communication
and information. ASCoR research is rooted in the empirical analytical tradition,
where research is aimed at theory development and theory testing based on
data. ASCoR also addresses applied research questions in the field of communications
as part of the School's societal task next to taking the opportunity to learn
from real life situations.
ASCoR has defined three basic research clusters relating to the infrastructure,
contents and effect of media and communication respectively, namely 'Communications,
Organizations and Policies', 'Media Audiences and Culture', and 'Communication
Effects'. These three clusters each cover a number of research lines, as outlined
below.
I. Communication, Organizations and Policies (COP)
Communications Policies for Access (CPA)
Open and Informed Organizations (OIO)
II. Media Audiences and Culture (MAC)
Media Audience Analysis (MAA)
Media, Audiences, and Reception (MAR)
Media, Culture and Citizenship (MCS)
III. Communication Effects (CE)
News, Political Communications and Public Opinion (NPCPO)
Audiences, Campaigns and Persuasion (ACP)
The Scalex project is part of the Media, Audiences, and Reception programme. Other projects on ICT and communication within this programme include research on the influence of Internet-based communication on intimate bonds and social well-being, and research on computer games and gaming communities.
Key Persons
Professor Ed Tan holds a chair in Media Entertainment. He graduated in cognitive and behavioural psychology. His doctoral thesis was on media provoked emotion experiences. He has worked in various fields of the arts and culture. His research interests include new experiences in cultural heritage museums, multimedia and culture, and emotion in viewers of feature film, animated film, comics, posters and visual arts. He has worked on various search and retrieval systems for large scale cultural MM databases.