Supervisor at VUB: Prof. Pieter Ballon
Advisor at LSE: Prof. Robin Mansell
Topic: Platform networks: Assessing and regulating vertical, horizontal and cross-layer competitive dynamics in complex platform ecosystem
I am a full-time PhD student in communication studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) in Belgium and a junior researcher in the Business Research Unit at the University’s research institute SMIT (Studies for Media, Information and Telecommunication), which is part of iMinds, an independent research institute founded by the Belgian Flemish government. Currently, I am based as a visiting PhD student at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) at the Department for Media and Communication , where I work under guidance of Prof. Robin Mansell on my PhD. My main supervisor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is Prof. Pieter Ballon.
In my PhD I focus on the theoretical and empirical assessment of complex platform ecosystem in the media and telecommunication industry as well as implications for their proper regulation. The working title of my PhD work is “Platform networks: Assessing and regulating vertical, horizontal and cross-layer competitive dynamics in complex platform ecosystems”. The thesis aspires to gain new and fresh insights concerning the question “How can competitive dynamics in today’s increasingly platform-dominated media and telecommunication markets be assessed, and what are consequences for policy makers and regulators?” Hence the thesis aims (1) to develop a new theoretical framework to assess the recent multi-layered platformisation tendencies in the ICT sector and (2) to derive a number of generic implications for a sound regulation of the ICT sector.