Doctoral Research 2024: What Did the New Nordic Doctors Study?

Data journalism, gender and ideologies online, digital parenting, investigative journalism, and how parliamentarians use media – these were just some of the topics of the doctoral theses defended at Nordic universities last year. In 2024, 66 researchers earned their PhDs in the region. Congratulations to all!

Through searches across databases including DiVA in Sweden, Cristin in Norway, NORA in Denmark, and Finna in Finland, we found 62 accepted theses in 2024. None were found in Iceland. The universities of Bergen, Copenhagen, Tampere, and Turku had the highest number of accepted doctoral theses in the Nordic region last year.

Congratulations to all the graduates of last year! If you are aware of any theses that are missing from the list, please let us know. 

Doctoral Theses 2024

Sweden (14)

Baltz, André:  Dialog och digital kommunikation i svenska kommuner, Umeå University 

Bendfeldt, Luise: Tales of Lonely Young Men: Analysing Portrayals of Misogynistic Incel Violence, Uppsala University 

Broms, Lovisa: Equestrian (Media) Cultures in Transition? Mediatization of Stable Cultures Through Social Media, Malmö University 

Burnett, Allan: Order in Ruins: British Society and the Media Assemblage of The World at War c. 1970-1975, Lund University 

Daudi, Aurélien: Conspicuous Fitness: Social Media, Fitspiration, and the Rise of the Exhibitionistic Self, Malmö University

Elmerot, Irene: Decoding Discourse: A Corpus Linguistic Study of Evaluative Adjectives and Group Nouns in Czech Print News Media (1989–2018), Stockholm University 

Hedenmo, Otto:  Elusive Promises of Mediated Collaboration: An Exploration of Media-Driven Potentials and Pitfalls in Collective Climate Change Mitigation, Jönköping University

Mohammadinodooshan, Alireza:  Data-driven Contributions to Understanding User Engagement Dynamics on Social Media. Linköping University

Morini, Francesca: Design + Data Journalism: Shifting Epistemologies, Values, and Practices, Södertörn University

O’Farrell, Kate: Gender and Ideologies Online: Discursive Constructions in Online News Comment Sections,  Stockholm University  

Osborne, Tanya: Unicorns in Moderation: Gender and Epistemology on Stack Overflow., Gothenburg University 

Sjögren, Maria: A Talking Matter: Discursive Enactments of Norms and Tensions an a Public Participation Process, Gothenburg University 

Stenkvist, Sara Rebecka: Ett självmatande maskineri. En etnografisk studie av kommunikationsverksamheten i en svensk myndighet, Gothenburg University 

Svensson, Torbjörn: From Games to News: Creating an Engagement Model for Digital Local News, University of Skövde

Denmark (12)

Andelsman Alvarez, Victoria: At Arm’s Length: Thinking with Care about Digital Parenting in Denmark, University of Copenhagen 

Batikha, Josef Peter: Koldkrigsjournalistik: en mediehistorisk analyse af skiftende amerikanske regeringers påvirkning af Danmarks Radio under Den Kolde Krig, 1945-1970, Roskilde University 

Brems, Miriam: Alternative News Use in a High-Trust Media and Political Context: The Spread and Use of Alternative Media and their Democratic Implications in the Least Likely Case of Denmark, Arhus University 

Brinkmann, Mørch Maria: DR for børn: Strategi og strategisk arbejde i en digital medievirkelighed, University of Copenhagen 

Henriksen, Elbæk Sofie: Big Tech to the Rescue? An Ethnographic Study of Corporate Humanitarianism in the Refugee Crisis, Copenhagen Buisiness School 

Henriksen, Møller Fredrik: BURN IT DOWN: Anti-Systemic Narratives and Counterpublics in Digital Alternative Information Environments, Roskilde University

Hyslop Graham, Mike: Single-Player Games and the Self: (Game)Play and Transformations, IT University of Copenhagen

Kappelgaard Severin-Nielsen, Majbritt: Parliamentarians’ Media Practices in a Hybrid Media Environment: A Mixed-Methods Study of Media Strategies and Behaviors in Danish Politics, Aalborg University 

Lohse, August: Political Participation, Responsiveness and Discourse in the Social Media Age, University of Copenhagen 

Lykke Ringgaard, Rebekka: Kollektive anklager i aktuel skandinavisk offentlighed, Aarhus University 


Pedersen, Kristina Aleksnadrova: Subtle Strings and Loud Chains: Autocratic Strategies of Information Control and their Impact on Media and Political Expression, University of Copenhagen

Rossi, Sippo: Bots on Social Media: The Past, Present and Future, Copenhagen Business School 

Scott Hansen, Sne: Wearable Communication: Exploring Communicative Agency with Wearable Digital Tracking Technologies for Personalized Decision-Support in People’s Everyday Lives, University of Copenhagen 

Weldingh, Line: Mediernes problembarn: Den fastlåste danske klimajournalistik – er der en vej ud?, Roskilde University

Norway (15)

af Malmborg, Frans August Runo: Artificial Intelligence – a Promethean Technology? Frames, Narratives and Arguments about AI in the EU and the Nordics 2016-2022, University of Adger

Bjerknes, Fredrik: Exploring Investigative Journalism: Boundaries, Epistemologies and Visibilities, University of Bergen

Doan, Tu My. Viewpoints Detection in Political Speeches, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Haanshuus, Birgitte Prangerød: Old Hate in New Media: Understandings of Antisemitism and Boundary-Making in the Norwegian Digital Public Sphere, University of Oslo

Iveland, Kari: Lyrics, Voices, and the Stories They Tell, University of Agder 

Kiberg, Håvard: Platform Ambivalence: Exploring the Dynamic Relationship Between Platformization and the Norwegian Music Industry, University of Bergen

Kronman, Linda Maria Jessica: Performing Bias: Conceptions of Machine Vision Bias in Digital Art, University of Bergen

Kvalvaag, Alyssa Marie: Re/Presentations of Migrant Integration Discourses in Northern Norway, Nord University 

Mehri S. Agai: Digital Flux: The Process of Youth Disconnection in an Ambivalent Digital Modernity, University of Bergen

Obukhova, Anna: Svalbard Through the Prism of Russian Media: A Discourse and Cognitive Perspective, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Okopnyi, Pavel: Collaborative Video Editing, University of Bergen

Outzen, Mads: Facing Terror: The Ethical Potential of Facing Terror Through Film, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Refsum, Anne Sigrid: Skillingsvisene i Norge ca. 1780-1860. Mellom muntlighet og massemedium, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Stifjell, Celina: She-Monsters and Sea Changes: Imagining Submersion in Speculative Feminist Fiction, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Undrum, Linda Victoria Moland: Kritisk literacy, multimodalitet og sosiale medier: En utforsking av multimodale fritidstekster og tekstpraksiser på Instagram, ungdommers vurdering av dem, og hvordan de kan inngå i norskfagets arbeid med kritisk tilnærming til tekst, University of Stavanger 

Finland (21)

Antola, Laura: Creating Transnational Superheroes: The Adaptation of American Superhero Comics in Finland in the Late Twentieth Century, University of Turku

Asman, Ihsan Can: Intimate Happenings: Uses of Porn and Other Sexual Media in Turkey, University of Turku

Erkkilä, Taina: Towards Maturity in Alignment: Balancing Organizational Listening and Speaking on Social Media, University of Jyväskylä

Fernandez Galeote, Daniel: Gamification and Climate Change Engagement: Building Knowledge, Developing Practice, and Studying Experiences and Effects, Tampere University 

Harju, Auli: Experiencing Public Participation and Its Research, Tampere University

Huttunen, Kaapo: The Sounds of Nordic Noir, University of Turku

Huuhka, Marleena: Weird Encounters in Virtual Worlds: Towards a Theory of Performative, Anarchic Counterplay as Resistance, Tampere University 

Kaartinen, Miina: Kehkeytyvä selviytyminen ja toinen tieto : Kulttuurisen sosiaalityön kompilaatio, Tampere University

Koivula, Minna: Journalism Made Different: Continuity and Change in Contemporary Newsrooms, University of Jyväskylä

Korkeamäki, Laura: Historians’ and Media Scholars’ Interactions with Research Data: Research Work Processes, Information Needed, and Focus Formulation to Understand Human Phenomena, Tampere University 

Lathi, Henri: Growing Up Online: Adolescents’ Digital Media Use and Its Relationships with Individual Factors, Social Factors, and Health, University of Jyväskylä 

Leppälä, Mia: Enterprise Social Media for Knowledge Brokering, Alto University 

Marttila, Eetu: Compulsion for Connection: Exploring Problematic Social Media Use, University of Turku

Morney, Elisabeth: Beyond the Craft — Three Perspectives on the Creative Process in the Innovation of Television Formats, Alto University

Oisalo, Niina: Traces, Gaps and Constellations: Acts of Remembering in Contemporary Nordic Documentary Film, University of Turku

Park, Solip: Understanding Game Work Migration: Game Expats in Finland, Aalto University

Parthasarathi, Vibodh: A Considered Silence: The Regulatory History of Press Ownership in India, University of Helsinki 

Ritter, Susanne: Regimenting Bodies, Regulating Lives: Fatness, Gender, and Relationships of Power in Makeover Television Shows from Finland and the United States, Tampere University 

Räikkönen, Jenni Maria: Pronouns separating the UK from the EU: We and us in British newspapers and parliamentary debates in 1973–2015, University of Helsinki 

Salonen, Margareta: Revising the Understanding of Gatekeeping Theory: Factors and Practices of Post-Publication Gatekeeping., University of Jyväskylä 

Spurava, Guna: Towards Platform Awareness in Media Education, Tampere University 

Teirilä, Olli: From Weapons of Mass Destruction to Snowden and Beyond: Development of Intelligence-Media Relationship in Britain, National Defence University. 

Tyni, Janne: Exploring Rewards in Serious and Educational Games, University of Eastern Finland

Is your thesis missing? Let us know and we will complement the list! 

Image: University of Bergen.