معرفی
Sten Hansson is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Tartu's Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Social Studies. He holds a Doctor's Degree (2016) and Research Master's Degree (2012) from Lancaster University, where he was supervised by Ruth Wodak. His academic career includes positions as Research Fellow (2017-2020), Senior Research Fellow (2020), Associate Professor (2021-2022 at 0.35 FTE, and 2022-present at 1.00 FTE), as well as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the University of Birmingham (2020-2022).
Hansson's research focuses on political communication, crisis and risk communication, critical discourse analysis, and political blame games. His work examines government communication strategies, particularly how politicians avoid blame and construct narratives during crises. He has published extensively on social media communication, disaster management, and hostile information influence. His research bridges communication studies, political science, and sociology, with a specific emphasis on risk and crisis sociology.
Hansson's recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward interdisciplinary research connecting communication studies with disaster management and security studies. His work increasingly focuses on European crisis management systems, social vulnerability assessment, and the role of social media in emergency response. He has developed methodological approaches for analyzing government communication through corpus-assisted discourse analysis and experimental frameworks for studying blame strategies.
- Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Language and Politics (2024-present)
- Associate Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (2015-present)
- Management Committee member of the European Network for Argumentation and Public Policy Analysis (2018-2023)
- Extensive reviewer for leading journals in political science, communication, and linguistics
Hansson actively supervises doctoral and master's students, with current PhD supervision focusing on disaster communication, genetic information in health behavior, and foresight in disaster risk management. His research is supported by multiple projects funded by the Estonian Research Council, European Commission, Estonian Defence Forces, and other institutions, with a strong emphasis on practical applications for crisis management and security policy.