Research

As a business or institute, you can commission academic research. Whether it concerns a short-term research project carried out by students or an extensive project for which you would like to deploy experienced researchers, ICON has ample in-house expertise.

Our research always takes place in close cooperation with the client, so we can ensure that projects can be completed successfully and on time. The results may vary from a monograph to independent advice, and from a website to a substantive contribution to a conference or festival. 

If you are interested in working with us, view the options on the pages of the research groups or simply contact ICON.

Projects

In recent years, cultural studies scholars have carried out a variety of research projects on behalf of, or in collaboration with, a range of partners within society, a few examples of which you can find below. For more examples, please go to the ‘Projects’ page of the individual research groups.

Data School

About Data School (in Dutch)

We investigate how datafication and algorithmization impacts culture and society. This research is informed through our close cooperation with external partners including (local) government organizations, (public) media, companies, and NGO’s. We focus on two research interests:

  1. Public debate online. For example research into how conspiracy theories spread from one social media platform to the other. 
  2. Responsible data practices and AI. For instance, we developed FRAIA: the Fundamental Rights and Algorithms Impact Assessment, an instrument for ethical reflection, deliberation, and accountability.
    Website Data School

    Detecting and preventing low-literacy among Dutch 12-15 year-olds

    © iStockphoto.com

    In this project, computer scientist and linguist Marijn Schraagen is looking for speech technology that can help detect reading problems: do children who read less well speak in a different vocabulary and with different intonation about texts they have read than children without reading problems? In this way, reading problems in a group of readers who develop problems (12-15 year olds in the Netherlands) who now remain under the radar may be able to be properly detected. In the second part of the project, a social robot will be developed that helps these young people with reading difficulties, for example through online tutoring.