DC11 – Reaching the unreachable

For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has championed freedom, equality, and connectedness — values deeply embedded in campus life for both students and staff. At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities, and, above all, people who are 100% their authentic selves.

With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels — an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located. Add to this our principle of free research — in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central — and you have a university that is groundbreaking in education and research. The VUB is also a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.

SMIT (Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology) is a research centre within the Faculty of Social Sciences & Solvay Business School at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a core research group of imec, Flanders’ leading institute for nano-technology and ICT innovation. For over three decades, SMIT has conducted cutting-edge social scientific research on media and ICT, with a strong focus on innovation, policy, and socio-economic developments.

The candidate will be based within the Media Economics and Policy (MEP) unit of SMIT, which examines how digitalisation, internationalisation, and platformisation reshape media markets, business models, and creative ecosystems. Its researchers explore how traditional and emerging media actors innovate, compete, and collaborate, as well as how public policy can strengthen diverse cultural and creative sectors, including publishing, heritage, broadcasting, film, gaming, music, and documentary production.

The PhD project is titled: Reaching the unreachable.

Public Interest Media — and specifically Public Service Media — are mandated to provide universal and equitable access to information, yet substantial groups remain rarely or never reached. Vulnerable and underserved audiences — including individuals with low literacy, low-skilled workers, people in precarious socio-economic situations, refugees, and diverse younger audiences — are often overlooked in both academic research and industry practice. This gap persists partly because these groups are difficult to identify, reach, and engage through conventional research approaches.

Recent studies underscore the pivotal role of intermediary actors — such as youth workers, social organisations, and media literacy networks — in facilitating contact with vulnerable and diverse communities. Existing findings also point to higher rates of news avoidance, media disconnection, and trust deficits among these populations.

For Public Interest Media, understanding and engaging vulnerable and underserved groups is essential to upholding their societal mission and reinterpreting ‘universality’ in a platformised media environment.

This research project aims to:

• Identify the media needs, habits, expectations, and barriers experienced by vulnerable and underserved groups.
• Develop a nuanced categorisation of media use across diverse user profiles.
• Generate evidence-based recommendations to help Public Interest Media reach, inform, and interact more effectively with these audiences.
• Contribute to the conceptual rethinking of universality, inclusivity, and equity in Public Interest Media.

The PhD researcher will contribute to the following core activities:

• Conduct a contemporary conceptualisation of universality, inclusivity, and the notion of underserved audiences in Public Service Media.
• Analyse existing Public Service Media audience data to identify unreachable, overlooked, and underserved groups, i.e., who is being left behind?
• Map and consult intermediary stakeholders (e.g., NGOs, youth workers, community organisations) to support ethical and effective user engagement.
• Develop an ethical, accessible, and context-sensitive framework for engaging vulnerable and underserved groups in research, including diverse young audiences.
• Investigate current media behaviours, needs, motivations, and barriers to Public Interest Media access among diverse communities, in particular youth.
• Construct a typology of underserved audience profiles based on media practices, motivations, structural constraints, and socio-contextual conditions.
• Iteratively develop, test, and refine strategies and interventions designed to help Public Interest Media better reach and serve vulnerable and underserved audiences with public interest content.

The doctoral project will adopt a mixed-methods research design; methods may include:

• Desk research, structured literature review
• Qualitative methods: focus groups, co-creation and participatory workshops, in-depth interviews, diary and longitudinal engagement methods
• Quantitative methods: surveys, secondary data analysis (e.g., audience metrics, platform analytics)
• Scenario-building.

The position requires relocation to Belgium as the candidate will be enrolled in the Vrije Universiteit Brussel’s PhD programme in Communication Sciences. The project is conducted under the supervision of Wendy Van den Broeck, Associate Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Petr Szczepanik, Associate Professor at Charles University, Prague. It will involve close collaboration with other Doctoral Candidates in the RePIM doctoral Network Project, and an academic secondment of approximately 2 months at Charles University. The candidate will also carry out 3-month internship at Mediawijs, the Flemish Knowledge Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, located in Brussels.

The PhD position is part of RePIM – Revisioning Public Interest Media, a four-year Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Doctoral Network dedicated to reimagining the role and future of Public Interest Media in a data-driven, platform-dominated environment. RePIM brings together leading European universities, industry partners, and 12 Doctoral Candidates in an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral training and research programme. The network investigates how Public Interest Media can remain relevant, sustainable, and impactful by transforming how content is produced, packaged, distributed, and supported organisationally and technologically. Through its focus on strategic innovation, organisational change, and media management, RePIM equips its doctoral researchers with advanced analytical and managerial skills to help reshape public interest media across diverse European contexts.

MSCA eligibility requirements

• At the time of recruitment, candidates must not already hold a doctoral degree.
• Applicants of any nationality are welcome to apply. However, researchers must not have lived or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the host country (in this case: Belgium) for more than 12 months within the 36 months immediately preceding their recruitment date. Candidates must be willing to move to Belgium for the duration of the PhD research.

Project-specific profile requirements

• Master’s degree in media and communication studies or a related social sciences discipline (political sciences, international studies, economics, management, sociology, urban studies)
• Excellent knowledge of social sciences research methods (qualitative analysis, interviews, document analysis, quantitative analysis); experience with fieldwork and/or digital research methods is an asset
• Strong academic track record, with particular emphasis on research, analytical, and writing skills
• Affinity with inclusivity, vulnerable groups is a plus
• Strong team orientation, a reliable work ethic, excellent time-management skills, and the ability to take initiative and work independently
• Proficiency in written and spoken English; knowledge of Dutch is a notable advantage
• Willingness to engage in international mobility in line with the MSCA-DN framework (meetings, training sessions, research stays, industry stays, etc.).

In this role, you will work with researchers at two prominent European institutions in media and communication research. You will collaborate closely with other researchers in a European consortium of leading studies institutes in the field, as well as conduct an industry secondment with a relevant organisation in your field of research.

The planned starting date is 1 May 2026.

We offer an attractive compensation and benefits package, including the following:

• A full-time PhD scholarship for 48 months.
• An attractive salary in accordance with the MSCA Call 2025 regulations for Doctoral Researchers, including a monthly living allowance, a mobility allowance of €710, and a family allowance of €660 (only if applicable). The salary is in line with salary scales for PhD fellows available here, and calculated based on factors such as years of experience, nationality, and indexation.
• Excellent holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave, closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days.
• Cost-free hospitalisation insurance.
• Other VUB employment conditions and benefits.
• International mobility for academic secondment at Charles University (Prague).
• A paid industry internship at Mediawijs (Belgium).
• A wide range of training possibilities and participation in international conferences.
• Support and guidance by an experienced team of academic supervisors and senior researchers.
• A dynamic and stimulating work environment with enterprising young scientists and experienced senior research staff in an international setting.

Applications are now closed.

Application process:

• Step 1: initial selection based on application file
• Step 2: first round of interviews with long-listed candidates (est. February–March 2026)
• Step 3: second round of interviews with short-listed candidates (March 2026)
• Starting date: est. 1 May 2026.