Eleonora Benecchi

Eleonora Benecchi is a Research Professor at the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG), Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, University of Italian Switzerland (USI). She teaches courses including Digital Cultures and Audiovisual Theory and Production at the BA level and Social Media Management at the MA level. She is actively involved in multiple national and international research projects, particularly those examining youth media consumption and digital participatory culture.

Research Interests: Her work focuses on Internet fandom, participatory culture, and the dissemination of pop culture through social media, with a strong emphasis on younger generations' media behaviors. She investigates the intersections between media producers and fans, especially in television series, and explores how digital platforms reshape cultural engagement.

Her recent publications and projects reveal a consistent focus on digital culture, ethnographic analysis of youth news consumption, and the socio-economic dimensions of online fandom. She has published in leading journals such as Media Culture and Society and New Media and Society.

Scientific Leadership and Projects:

• Lead for the Italian-speaking region in the national MIKE and JAMES research projects (since 2012), studying youth-media relationships.
• Collaborator on the Swiss National Science Foundation project The Origins and Spread of the World Wide Web, led by Gabriele Balbi.
• Conducted collaborative ethnographic research with ZHAW and the University of Lausanne on youth engagement with online news.

Teaching and Professional Engagement: She mentors students through teaching and workshop tutoring. She is responsible for organizing the Documentary Summer School at the Locarno Film Festival on behalf of IMeG, bridging academic research with audiovisual practice.

Labs and Teams: She is embedded in the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG), a research hub focused on media innovation, journalism practices, and digital culture, where she contributes to both theoretical and applied projects.