About Us

About Us

The Standing Group was officially launched in September 2018, and succeeded the Research Network on Political Communication which was established in 2017 to provide scholars working in the field of Political Communication a platform to share insights and connect with one another. The SG currently consists of over 340 members.  Political communication is a growing field of study, and tackles the interplay between politics, media and the public. So, the group harbors a diverse array of scholars, ranging from those that study the interplay between politicians and journalists (politics-media), to those that examine the effects of mass media on the public (public – media). Researchers working on these topics are warmly invited to join the network (see Joining the Standing Group).

Governance Structure

The Standing Group is governed by the Steering Committee (SC), which serves a three year term. A full description of the governance structure and workings of the Standing Group can be found on the Constitution for ECPR Standing Group. The Steering Committee is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the Standing Group. In addition, the Steering Committee is in charge of organizing the various activities of the Standing Group.

The current SC was elected in March 2021 and consists of five members:

Loes Aaldering

Loes Aaldering is an assistant professor in comparative politics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She finds international and interdisciplinary cooperation between academics of utmost importance and the standing group on political communication of the ECPR is a great way for stimulating this among political scientists and communication scientists. She really enjoyed being part of the steering committee of this standing group the last three years and feels honoured that she can continue with this work in the next term.

Her research combines insights from both political science and communication science as she studies issues related to gender, politics and media; political leadership; political representation and electoral behaviour. More specifically, she examines, among other things, how politicians are discussed in the media in terms of their leadership traits; gender differences in media coverage of politicians; (mediated) leadership effects on voters; gender stereotypes; fake news; news avoidance and polarization.

Linda Bos

I am very happy and honoured to have been elected as a member of the Steering Committee of the ECPR Standing Group on Political Communication. The ECPR General Conference is the first conference I ever attended (in Pisa, back in 2007), and while I have been member of various Standing Groups over the years, the Political Communication Standing Group is the only one that fits with the research I conduct myself. I am happy that I will be able to contribute into strengthening this research network by building connections, but also by organizing activities, mainly aimed at training and mentoring graduate students. I am an Assistant Professor of Political Communication at the Amsterdam School for Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam. I am an expert in the broad field of populist political communication, studying the role of communication in the success of populist parties. In the general sense, my work centres on the relation between political elites, media and voters, focusing on the content and effects of political communication for democracy. I published 25+ articles in ISI-ranked journals such as Political Communication, Party Politics, European Journal of Political Research, International Journal of Press/Politics and Political Psychology.

Katjana Gattermann

I am Assistant Professor of Political Communication and Journalism at ASCoR, University of Amsterdam. My work addresses questions that concern the relationship between representatives and represented in changing societies, and particularly the role of information provided by traditional and new media in that relationship. I have just completed a research project on the patterns, drivers and effects of personalization of politics in the European Union. Jonas Lefevere and I initiated this Standing Group as a Research Network in 2017 with the aim to have Political Communication formally represented within ECPR. I am delighted that I am able to continue contributing to the team effort to make this Standing Group a sustainable part of ECPR. I would like to advocate that we pay particular attention to equity, diversity and inclusion in the new term; and find ways to discuss some topical challenges affecting the field (e.g., data access/sharing) and the profession more generally (e.g., distrust in science).

Laura Jacobs

Laura Jacobs will serve as a new member of the ECPR standing group for the coming 3 years. Laura is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Political Science Department (Cevipol) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She works on a personal FRS-FNRS for her research project on mainstream parties’ narratives on ruling with anti-establishment parties. She has published mostly about news coverage of anti-immigration actors, media effects on voting behaviour, anti-immigration attitudes and representation of minorities in the news. Laura very much looks forward to take up the role to promote the political communication research network and represent its members at ECPR. Apart from her work for the ECPR steering committee, she is also is co-convener for this year’s section at the ECPR General Conference.

Jonas Lefevere

Jonas has been a member of the Steering Committee since the beginning of the standing group in 2017. His research focuses on elections and the role of political communication in representative processes, and he has published on the role of issue perceptions in electoral behaviour, party communication during the campaign and populism. In addition to the day-to-day management of the standing group, Jonas has helped organise various events for the standing group, including the Standing Group’s section at the 2018 general conference.