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Mon­ica Porzionato

Postdoc

About

E-mail
Departments
Department of Management, Society and Communication
Subjects
Organisation Strategy Communication Qualitative methods Democracy

Primary research areas

Or­gan­iz­a­tion­al com­mu­nic­a­tion
I am in­ter­ested in how or­gan­iz­a­tion emerges in and through com­mu­nic­a­tion (i.e., or­gan­iz­ing), es­pe­cially fo­cus­ing on or­din­ary and ha­bitu­al com­mu­nic­at­ive prac­tices in di­git­al and non-di­git­al spaces.
Af­fect and af­fect­ive at­mo­spheres
I am in­ter­ested in un­der­stand­ing com­mu­nic­a­tion and or­gan­iz­a­tion as af­fect­ive phe­nom­ena, namely as phe­nom­ena that op­er­ate and emerge at the pre-in­ten­tion­al yet cul­tur­ally me­di­ated level of shared emo­tion­al ori­ent­a­tions.
Sens­ory, at­mo­spher­ic and di­git­al/net-no­graphy
I am fa­mil­i­ar with eth­no­graph­ic meth­ods of data col­lec­tion and ana­lys­is in both di­git­al and non-di­git­al en­vir­on­ments, es­pe­cially those de­ploy­ing sens­ory and at­mo­spher­ic ap­proaches.

Even the most com­plex and ab­stract so­ci­et­al is­sues emerge at the level of or­din­ary sens­ory and af­fect­ive ori­ent­a­tions. To pro­mote change, I study the in­er­tia and po­ten­tial of every­day en­coun­ters.

I hold a PhD in Media and Communication Studies (specialisation in Strategic Communication), which I obtained from Lund University in February 2025. I also hold a BA in Communication from the University of Padua, an MA in Semiotics from the University of Bologna, and an MA in Women's and Gender Studies from Utrecht University.

In my research, I explore the intersections between organisational communication theory and new materialist and non-representational theorising. This brings me to investigate how communication operates affectively and atmospherically, as well as how organisations emerge from habitual encounters between people and spaces. In my PhD dissertation, Feeling the Changing Climate, I propose an affective approach to the strategic communication of floods in the tourist city of Venice, wherein I explore how climate change is constituted through the sustainment of affective atmospheres, thus of seemingly ordinary ways in which Venice ought to look and feel like in the midst of climate change. The thesis was awarded “outstanding PhD dissertation in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Lund University” in the year 2025 by the Vetenskapssocieteten i Lunds.

I am currently part of the research project “The double edge of social media influencing: Participatory antagonism and communicative resilience in the Nordics” (INFLU-NORD), a research collaboration between Copenhagen Business School, Lund University and the University of Helsinki (NordForsk, 2026-2029). In this project, I research the role of social media influencing practices in the creation and maintenance of anti-democratic organizing. 

Recent research projects

The double edge of so­cial me­dia in­flu­en­cing: Par­ti­cip­at­ory ant­ag­on­ism and com­mu­nic­at­ive re­si­li­ence in the Nor­dics (IN­FLU-NORD)

IN­FLU-NORD is a re­search pro­ject on so­cial me­dia in­flu­en­cing as ant­ag­on­ist­ic threat and de­fend­er of demo­crat­ic val­ues. It is a re­search col­lab­or­a­tion between Lund Uni­ver­sity, Copen­ha­gen Busi­ness School, and the Uni­ver­sity of Hel­sinki, fun­ded by Nord­Forsk (2026-2029)
Project website