Communication

Leadership in Action (LIA) helps students understand what it means to be a leader in the 21st century. The course explores complex current problems and ask: How does change happen? Who makes it happen? What does that tell us about leadership and how we do it? This course equips students with the tools to critically evaluate models and approaches to leadership and to apply these to a range of complex 21st century problems such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. The course also helps students to develop a toolkit of transferable skills that boosts their employability. Students hear from leaders who are influencing change in the world, including some of the university's leading academics and leaders from the public, private, and voluntary sectors.

The course explores the nature of culture and its role in society, with a focus on intercultural communication, representation of otherness, and cultural diversity. Students examine cultural dynamics from traditional to postmodern contexts, including the impact of digital and cybercultural transformations, and learn strategies for effective cultural communication across formats, genres, and media.

This course covers the historical development of journalistic activity in Brazil across different media. It investigates the relationships between journalism, culture, and power in Brazil.

Public Crisis Management is an undergraduate course in Public Administrative. Specifically, it is divided into three parts: the first part is the types and causes of sudden public events, the second part is crisis and crisis management theory, and the third part is the specific process and techniques of crisis management.

This course develops an appreciation of both theoretical and practical conceptions of public relations. Although examples are drawn primarily from Swedish, UK, and US experience, students are invited to consider public relations in a broader transnational and global context. Emphasis is placed on understanding the changing nature of the discipline, including those driven by the increasing importance of digital platforms and channels. The course develops the student’s ability to consider public relations as a strategic activity and builds familiarity with the public relations toolkit. The range of tactical devices employed for delivering organizational messages and engaging with a range of stakeholder groups. This includes developing techniques for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of such activity. As well as critically examining the reality of what is sometimes described as the “professional project” students are encouraged to consider ethical issues surrounding public relations activity, including power imbalances and tensions around truth, persuasion, authenticity, transparency and legitimacy.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The objectives include: Critical Analysis: Train students to critically analyze how culture and social structures both shape and are shaped by the physical environment. Spatial Awareness: Help students understand the spatial dimensions of social phenomena, exploring how territories impact social interactions and cultural expressions. Cultural Appreciation: Foster an appreciation for cultural diversity by examining how different cultures manifest within specific territories, and how cultural practices are influenced by geographic locations. Research Skills: Develop research skills by teaching students how to investigate and analyze the relationships between social structures, culture, and territory through empirical studies and literature reviews. Globalization Impact: Explore the effects of globalization on local cultures and identities. Emphasize how global forces interact with and sometimes challenge local customs and territorial boundaries, fostering critical thinking. 

This course focuses specifically on the spatial and cultural dimensions of contemporary life. It begins by exploring the historical development of the discipline and its intersections with other social sciences, then moves toward a more focused examination of how territory and culture interact within the context of consumer society. Particular attention is devoted to understanding how consumption shapes and is shaped by both physical and digital environments. Consumer culture is not approached merely as an economic phenomenon, but as a complex system of practices and meanings that contribute to the production of social identities, symbolic landscapes, and territorial imaginaries. From shopping malls and theme parks to social media platforms and algorithmically curated spaces, students investigate how consumption environments function as sites of cultural production and negotiation. Throughout the course, students engage with theoretical perspectives and empirical case studies that highlight the interplay between material culture, globalization, prosumption, and the hybridization of space. The physical and the digital are not treated as separate spheres, but as interconnected and co-constructed domains that define how individuals navigate, appropriate, and give meaning to their social worlds. By combining lectures, seminar discussions, and multimedia materials, the course fosters a critical understanding of how contemporary spatial practices reflect broader cultural transformations. In doing so, it encourages students to reflect on the ways in which space and culture co-evolve in the context of late modernity, shaping both inclusion and exclusion, identity and belonging.

This course provides an overview of the major branches of mass media in the dominant European markets, with a focus on the transition from traditional mass media to digital media. After an introduction to media history, theories, and current research, the course examines specific industries such as television, radio, music, film, and print. Theories and models of mass communication are introduced and analyzed against their practical application in the markets studied in the course. Students compare how political and regulatory influences impact different sectors of the media in several European countries. The course is taught using a mix of lectures, case study discussions, student presentations, and site visits.

The course explores an integrated approach to marketing communications. It examines concepts, principles, and methods of marketing promotion and communication. Specific focus is placed on developing an integrated marketing communications plan based on consumer understanding (outside-in approach) and an understanding of the brand and brand positioning. Topics include media planning, media selection, testing and evaluation, and communication and marketing strategies.

This advanced course covers the dynamic interactions between humans and technology. Specifically, we trace the evolution of computer-mediated communication (CMC), explore impression formation, identity, and well-being online, and extend into human–machine communication (HMC) with AI, social robots, and algorithmic media. Students critically examine theories, research, and ethical issues shaping the future of communication. Students should expect to do extensive research and produce a research paper and final paper presentation.  

Topics include Computer-mediated communication, Impression formation and relationship development, Communication and self, Psychological well-being and social support, Merging mass and interpersonal communication via interactive communication technology, Are computers social actors?   

This course provides an introduction to research methodology with an emphasis on experimentation. The goal of this course is to teach students how to turn an idea into a good research question and then turn that question into rigorous research studies. To do so, we survey a variety of basic and advanced research techniques, including experimental, behavioral, observational, survey, and physiological methods. Students participate in discussions to understand the applications of each class topic to their research interests. Finally, students design their own studies that utilize methodological approaches.  

Topics include Having and testing ideas, Operationalization and issues of validity, Statistical power and correlational design: measurement construction, Experimental design, Repeated sampling, Survey, Unobtrusive measures and observation, Inducing and assessing emotions, Physiological methods, Dyadic and group designs, Meta-analysis and cross-cultural research, Presenting and publishing research.