J.C.J. (John) Hoeks

Prof. Dr. J.C.J. (John) Hoeks is a Full Professor of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Arts, affiliated with the Discourse and Communication department. His research focuses on persuasive communication, environmental sustainability, health literacy, and narrative persuasion. He serves on the Faculty Board and has expertise in interdisciplinary studies bridging communication science, environmental policy, and cognitive neuroscience.

Key research areas include analyzing the impact of communication strategies on dietary behavior, sustainability transitions, and health interventions. He explores how narrative formats, prosody, and visual elements influence message reception, with notable work on plant-based food consumption norms, cell-based meat acceptance, and smoking cessation narratives. His work often addresses the intersection of language processing and environmental ethics, incorporating experimental and computational methods.

Publications span topics from neurocomputational models of language comprehension to systematic reviews of health literacy interventions. Media engagements highlight his role as an expert commentator on sustainable food initiatives and animal ethics in sustainability frameworks. His research emphasizes practical applications, such as improving doctor-patient communication through visual tools and designing effective public health campaigns.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Discourse and Communication research group, collaborating on projects integrating cognitive science with societal issues. Supervises research on communication technologies, environmental policy communication, and narrative persuasion mechanisms.