First Symposium of the VU Amsterdam Digital Literacy Hub
Digital literacy is one of the most policy-relevant yet conceptually fragmented fields in communication science. Across Europe, researchers are advancing specific domains (advertising literacy, privacy literacy, AI literacy, news literacy), yet these communities rarely talk to one another. The first symposium of the VU Amsterdam Digital Literacy Hub sets out to close that gap.
Over two days, we bring together researchers working across different literacy domains alongside educators, policymakers, and practitioners. Together, we take stock of the state of the field, explore connections across subdisciplines, and ask what it would take for research and practice to be genuinely aligned. The symposium is intentionally small, around 35 to 40 participants, to make genuine conversation possible.
Keynote speakers
Keynote · Day 1, Wednesday 28 October
Dr. Mariëtte van Huijstee
Research Coordinator, Digitalisation, Rathenau Instituut, The Hague
Mariëtte van Huijstee leads the Rathenau Instituut's research on digitalisation, where her team studies the impact of technology on society and the responsibility of the companies that build it, from the market power of the large platforms to the governance of immersive technology and the design of tomorrow's digital society. She holds a PhD in corporate social responsibility from the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation and previously worked as a senior researcher at SOMO. Alongside her research she translates scientific and policy insight for wider audiences through podcasts, citizen workshops, and public debate, and she sits on the Scientific Council of Netwerk Mediawijsheid.
Talk title and abstract will be announced later.
View profile
Keynote · Day 2, Thursday 29 October
Prof. dr. Esther Rozendaal
Professor of Digital Resilience, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Esther Rozendaal studies how children and young people can grow into resilient participants in a digital society, from the way teenagers deal with sponsored content and persuasive design to what actually makes media literacy interventions work. She holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam and worked at Radboud University before moving to Rotterdam, where she co-leads the Erasmus Movez Lab; her research has been supported by NWO Veni and Vidi grants. She co-founded the science communication platform Bitescience and advises NICAM, Netwerk Mediawijsheid, Kennisnet, and the Trimbos Instituut.
Talk title and abstract will be announced later.
View profileAttendance at this symposium is by invitation. Invited participants receive a personal registration link by email.
