The Annenberg School Welcomes 21 New Visiting Scholars and Postdoctoral Fellows

From feminist movements to mobile cinema in Tibet, these scholars' work spans the field of Communication.

By Ashton Yount

a view of trees partially covering College Hall, a stone building, on a bright day

As the 2018-2019 school year begins, six new visiting scholars and 15 new postdoctoral fellows are joining the Annenberg School for Communication, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and several other Annenberg research centers. These scholars will research alongside and collaborate with Annenberg faculty, staff, and students for anywhere from one semester to several years.

Visiting Scholars

Annenberg School

  • Jingjing Chen, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the Journalism School of Yunnan University. Some of her recent research projects include an examination of mobile cinema in Tibet and the acculturation of ethnic minority groups as rural-urban migrants in China.

Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC)

  • Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Mette Mortensen, Ph.D., is currently the Principal Investigator of a large, collective research project entitled “Images of Conflict, Conflicting Images.” The project will run through 2021.

Center for Media at Risk

  • Wendy Chun, Ph.D., is the Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media at Simon Fraser University. She combines her backgrounds in Systems Design Engineering and English Literature in her current work on digital media.
  • A scholar of media freedom, censorship, and propaganda, Cherian George, Ph.D., is Professor of Media Studies in the journalism department of Hong Kong Baptist University. He is also the director of the Centre for Media and Communication Research.

Excellence Through Diversity Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania Provost’s Office

  • A doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, Beatrice Choi studies innovation culture in Brazil. She is currently working on her dissertation, which examines the histories of scientific enterprise and technological adoption during colonial and authoritarian rule.
  • Adrien Sebro is a doctoral candidate in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of California Los Angeles. His dissertation focuses on a production history of Tandem Productions and the politics of representation of their Black sitcoms of the 1970s.
Collage of headshots of Jingjing Chen, Mette Mortensen, Wendy Chun, Cherian George, Beatrice Choi and Adrien Sebro
(L to R) Jingjing Chen, Mette Mortensen, Wendy Chun, Cherian George, Beatrice Choi, Adrien Sebro

Postdoctoral Fellows

Annenberg School

  • A 2018 graduate of the Annenberg School, Rosemary Clark-Parsons, Ph.D., researches popular media’s appropriation of feminist rhetoric, digitally mediated feminist activism, and the do-it-yourself media tactics of grassroots feminist collectives in Philadelphia.

Annenberg Public Policy Center

  • The William J. Henrich Postdoctoral Fellow, Daniel Chapman, Ph.D., examines the human dimensions of resource management, risk communication strategies, and methods of understanding and improving environmental decision-making.
  • Kathryn Haglin, Ph.D., is the Arlin M. and Neysa Adams Postdoctoral Fellow. She is currently studying ways to overcome human biases that affect communication of sound science and the role of science curiosity in science polarization.
  • The Howard Deshong Postdoctoral Fellow, Ozan Kuru, Ph.D., researches the nature of challenges in public understanding of scientific evidence. He is also a member of the False Accusations Against Surveys Ad Hoc Committee at AAPOR.
  • Investigating the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of persuasive messages, Hang Lu, Ph.D., is currently a Gloria T. and Melvin J. “Jack” Chisum Postdoctoral Fellow. He is particularly interested in the role of discrete emotions in influencing individuals.
  • Matthew Motta, Ph.D., explores Americans’ attitudes toward science, experts, and science communication, especially the effect of interest in science on opinion toward scientists. He is a Gloria T. and Melvin J. “Jack” Chisum Postdoctoral Fellow.
  • A 2018 graduate of the Annenberg School, Yotam Ophir, Ph.D., the Joan Bossert Postdoctoral Fellow. His research focuses the coverage and discourse of health and science issues in new and legacy media, and its effects on audiences’ perceptions and behavior.
  • The Martin Fishbein Postdoctoral Fellow, Dominik Stecula, Ph.D., is interested in examining the nature of coverage of scientific issues in the news, the dynamics of public opinion polarization of scientific issues, and the relationship between the two.
Collage of headshots of Rosemary Clark-Parsons, Daniel Chapman, Kathryn Haglin, Ozan Kuru, Hang Lu, and Matthew Motta
(L to R) Rosemary Clark-Parsons, Daniel Chapman, Kathryn Haglin, Ozan Kuru, Hang Lu, Matthew Motta

Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC)

  • A scholar of affective labor, digital creative industries, and radical media, Yakein Abdelmagid, Ph.D., is currently examining the historical and ethnographic relationship between state-sponsored neoliberal entrepreneurship in the Arab world.
  • Clovis Bergère, Ph.D., is a visual ethnographer whose research examines the politics of youth as they are realized in relation to digital media in Guinea. He is interested in social networking as a locus for the mediation and re-imagination of political subjectivities.
  • A former media producer and writer in Russia, Stanislav Budnitsky, Ph.D., researches the relationship between nationalism, global communication, and digital technologies. He is particularly focused on global internet governance.
  • A scholar of Vietnamese media, Giang Nguyen-Thu, Ph.D., is currently investigating how Vietnamese mothers use Facebook to navigate an emerging economy of precarity caused by widespread panic related to food, environment, and education.
Collage of headshots of Yotam Ophir, Dominik Stecula, Yakein Abdelmagid, Clovis Bergère, Stanislav Budnitsky, and Giang Nguyen-Thu
(L to R) Yotam Ophir, Dominik Stecula, Yakein Abdelmagid, Clovis Bergère, Stanislav Budnitsky, Giang Nguyen-Thu

Center for Media at Risk

  • Daniel Grinberg, Ph.D., researches government media and censorship, war and security media, and surveillance. He is currently at work on his first book, examining how documentary media and FOIA disclosures mediate public knowledge of covert security and surveillance practices.

George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellowship

  • Lik Sam Chan, Ph.D., studies emerging dating app culture in the United States and urban China. He recently investigated the neoliberal, market logic behind the ambivalence American gay men experience in establishing intimate relationships through dating apps.

Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab

  • Boaz Hameiri, Ph.D., examines intergroup processes and conflicts, and his research aims to develop psychological interventions to promote better intergroup relations and conflict resolution. He is also interested in victimhood as an interpersonal phenomenon.
Collage of headshots of Boaz Hameiri, Daniel Grinberg, and Lik Sam Chan
(L to R) Boaz Hameiri, Daniel Grinberg, Lik Sam Chan

Media Contact

Michael Rozansky
(215) 746-0202
michael.rozansky@appc.upenn.edu