PUCRS Professor Ana Cecília Nunes works on her joint doctoral degree at Universidade Beira Interior, Portugal
School of Communications, Arts and Design – Famecos professor and academic coordinator of the Institute for Research and Development (Idear), Ana Cecília Bisso Nunes, is working on her joint doctoral degree at the Universidade Beira Interior (UBI) and the Graduate Program in Communications. As a CAPES/PDSE student, she developed part of her studies at UBI from Nov 2018 to Jun, 2019. Ana Cecília defended the preliminary findings of her dissertation on the roles, challenges and results of media innovation labs at the end of the UBI semester, on June 21.
The research is partnered by the World Association of Newspaper and Newspublisher (WAN-IFRA) and constitutes a complementary approach to her Media Innovation Mapping project. Ana Cecília has put together a media laboratory database and identified more than 100 media innovation labs around the world, each of which mirroring the characteristics of the region they are located. In her view, Latin America has shown a growing number of independent laboratories, especially in universities, whereas corporate labs are not so popular.
Nunes is being advised by Eduardo Campos Pellanda (PUCRS) and João Canavilhas (UBI) and has conducted the first part of her research in August 2018. This part involved the leaders of media labs, mostly from Latin America, North America and Europe. Ten laboratories in Brazil, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States responded to the questionnaire and provided preliminary insights into the role of media labs in the future of journalism.
The initial findings show different types of media labs int he regions that were studied, as well as a diversity of projects, which ranged from digital tools and new narratives to broader journalism issues, in an effort to foster the innovation media culture. Ana Cecilia is expected to turn in her dissertation by the end of 2019 and defend it by March of the following year. After her defense, she will be awarded a PhD from both universities.
