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Christian Burgers, professor by special appointment of Strategic Communication

14 February 2019

Dr C.F. Burgers (1983) has been named professor by special appointment of Strategic Communication at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, effective 1 March 2019. The chair has been established on behalf of Logeion.
Prof Christian Burgers, hoogleraar FMG
Credits: VU Amsterdam

Christian Burgers’ research looks at the role of rhetorical language use in strategic communication, with a principal focus on figurative framing through the use of metaphors and irony. His goal is to map the ways in which framing is used by different stakeholder groups to explain societal developments, for example new technologies, and to shape recipients’ opinions. Burgers also investigates the roles played by creative processes and new media and genres in these phenomena. In addition, he studies the role of language in implicit processes such as stereotyping.

As professor by special appointment, Burgers will act as a link between the field of communication science and professional practice. His primary focus will be on new technological developments and the way these influence the communication profession. In addition, he will stimulate evidence-based communication policy and design. Logeion’s Centre for Strategic Communication (CSC), with which the chair is affiliated, will play an important role in this regard. 

About Christian Burgers

Burgers has been affiliated with the department of Communication Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) since 2009, first as a lecturer and assistant professor and since 2017 as an associate professor. In 2016, he was a visiting scholar at Chapman University’s (US) School of Communication. Burgers is co-editor of the book series Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication (MiLCC). He is also a member of the management team of the Metaphor Lab Amsterdam, an expertise centre for metaphor studies. The Metaphor Lab Amsterdam is a joint venture between VU Amsterdam’s Network Institute and the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (ACLC) of the UvA, and is affiliated with the Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Centre (ABC). 

Burgers is the recipient of several individual grants, including a Veni grant (2013) and a Vidi grant (2017). As co-applicant, he has also obtained various grants within the ‘Creative Industries’ programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). He has published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Communication, Communication Theory,Computers in Human Behaviour and Communication Research.