About ERC

Maria Helena Costa de Carvalho e Sousa

ERC Chairman, Helena Sousa

Helena Sousa is a full professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of the University of Minho and holds a PhD in Communications Policy from the City University of London since 1996. She has been lecturing numerous course units as part of undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees (Media Sociology, International Information, Political Economy of Communication, Media Companies, Ethics of Communication, among others). She advised approximately 20 doctoral theses and 40 master's theses.

She has been coordinating and taking part in national and international research projects on media regulation, communication policies, and journalism. Her work includes around 200 publications and communications. She is the editor of the European Journal of Communication and full member of the Euromedia Research Group. For ten years she took part in the coordination (Chair and Vice-chair) of the Political Economy Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and was member of the International Council e Coordenadora do Membership Committee. She has been working with the Council of Europe, the European Audiovisual Observatory, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, and the Portuguese Assessment and Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (A3ES).

At the University of Minho, Helena Sousa held the following posts: Director of the undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences, Director of the Department of Communication Sciences, Director of the Communication Sciences doctorate, President of the Courses Council of the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS), President and Vice-president of the ICS, President of the ICS Council, Member of the Academic Council, Member of the Senate, Member of the Ethics Council, President of the Cultural Council (Braga District Archive, Braga Public Library, Nogueira da Silva Museum, Unit of Archaeology, Monção Museum House, Lusíadas Study Centre, “House of Knowledge”, Portuguese-speaking Countries Virtual Museum). Helena Sousa worked at Jornal de Notícias newspaper between 1988 and 1991 in Porto and collaborated with Politics/Economy, National and International sections and with the Sunday Magazine.