Biographical note

Alexander Dhoest is Associate Professor in Communication Studies at the Catholic University of Antwerp (Belgium). He obtained an MA in Film and Television from the University of Warwick (UK) and a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Leuven, working on television drama and the construction of national identity. He teaches courses on popular culture, audiovisual media and research methods. His research focuses on the significance of popular media culture in relation to social identities. He has published widely on these issues in edited volumes and peer reviewed journals such as Media, Culture & Society, Television and New Media, European Journal of Communication and European Journal of Cultural Studies. He is an active member of communications associations such as ICA and ECREA, and he is a member of the editorial boards of six international journals, including European Journal of Cultural Studies. Steven Malliet is Assistant Professor at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and at the Luca School or Arts (Belgium). He teaches courses on game design, game psychology, new media and media theory. His research interests include media realism, game theory and history, media effects and character identification. He has published on these topics in such journals as New Media & Society, Cyberpsychology, Behaviour & Social Networks and Communications. He is co-editor of the book Vice City Virtue: Moral Issues in Digital Game Play. Barbara Segaert holds an MA in Oriental Studies, Islamic Studies and Arab Philology (KU Leuven, Belgium) and an MA in the Social Sciences (Open University, UK). Since 2002 she is scientific coordinator at the University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp where she develops academic programmes on various topics of contemporary relevance to society. Jacques Haers, SJ, studied mathematics (Catholic University of Leuven), philosophy (Catholic University of Leuven; Hochschule für Philosophie, München), and theology (Catholic University of Leuven; Oxford University). He is a professor of systematic theology and liberation theologies at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies (Catholic University of Leuven), where he also chairs the Centre for Liberation Theologies. He also heads the University Parish at the Catholic University of Leuven.