Kevin Smets

Kevin Smets is a research professor at the Department of Communication Studies, focusing on cultural media studies and film studies. He holds a MA in Modern History (Leuven, 2008), an MSc in Culture Management (Antwerp, 2009) and a PhD in Film Studies and Visual Culture (Antwerp, 2013). He was a postdoctoral fellow of the FWO and visiting scholar in several institutions in Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul), Germany (Berlin) and the UK (London, Oxford). He has co-edited the Handbook of Media and Migration (Sage, 2020) and published widely on the relations between media, migration and conflict. Kevin was the vice-chair of the Diaspora, Migration & Media section of ECREA (European Communication Research & Education Association) and a member of the Jonge Academie. Since 2021 he leads an ERC Starting Grant project titled 'Reel Borders' on border imaginaries in fiction film.

Research Expertise: Media, film, cinema, visual culture, representation, borders, conflict, migration, Middle East, Turkey

Research Methodology: Content analysis, ethnography, visual methods, participatory methods, interview methods