Rens Vliegenthart

Rens Vliegenthart is Professor and Chair Holder of Strategic Communication at Wageningen University & Research. Formerly at the University of Amsterdam, he joined WUR in 2022 and leads research on political communication, media framing, and digital journalism. His work critically examines media trust, news avoidance, and democratic accountability in high-choice information environments.

Research focuses on political advertising effects, misinformation susceptibility, media trust dynamics, and comparative framing analysis. Current projects examine emotional appeals in political ads, news avoidance patterns, and watchdog journalism in the Big Tech era.

Vliegenthart serves on editorial boards of leading communication journals and has coordinated multiple international research consortia. His methodological innovations include data donation techniques and computational analysis of media content.

As former President of the Young Academy (KNAW), he advocates for equity in academia. Current administrative responsibilities include research leadership and PhD supervision.