I am a Full Professor and Chair of Media, Politics and the Global South in the Faculty of Humanities at Utrecht University. A co-editor of two Springer International Publishing book series (link 1 & 2) which have jointly published over 30 books focused mostly on the journalism, media and communication research fields, I have also (co)-authored or (co)-edited over 20 scholarly books and special-themed issues in high-impact journalism and media journals. My work investigates the impact of technological transformations in global journalism practices.

I returned to the Netherlands in 2021 after spending eight years abroad serving as a Full Professor in Journalism and member of the executive council at Auburn University in the U.S. (2019-2021) and before then, as an Associate Professor of Journalism and Faculty Lead for Early Career Researchers program at University of Technology Sydney, Australia (2016-2019). I was also a Senior Lecturer in Journalism and program leader for the MA in Mass Communication at Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK (2014-2016). I also worked at Leiden University University as an Assistant Professor in Journalism. In 2021, I separately became UNESCO’s first Chair with a research focus on Data and Disinformation, also at UU.

I currently supervise a team of academics in my department and, separately, staff associated with the Research Council of Norway-funded ‘Decoding Digital Media and African Regions of Conflict’ (DDMAC) research project. I have supervised six PhD projects to completion. Currently, I act as a promoter on three PhD projects on topics ranging from the framing of AI News in Dutch newspapers, digital China as well as the impact of social media disinformation in conflict countries, two of which are funded by the Dutch Research Council and Research Council of Norway,.

A holder of three masters degrees in International Business Management (VU Amsterdam), International Journalism (Cardiff University) and International Politics (University of Hull), I completed my PhD at the Graduate School of Humanities at Leiden University in 2013. My undergraduate degree, completed in 2004, was here at UU after spending a year studying the Russian language and culture at Voronezh State University in Russia. I initially studied broadcast journalism at Southern Institute of Technology in New Zealand, graduating in December 2020.

Open Special Issue Calls

Mutsvairo B & de-Lima-Santos M.F. (2026). AI Use in Marginalized Media Markets. Media and Communication

Seong Jae Min, Bruce Mutsvairo & Susana Salgado. (2024). Citizen Journalism Revisited. Journalism

Poell T, Nieborg D, Duffy B.E, de Kloet J, Arriagada A, Mutsvairo B & Tse T.  (2024). Global Perspectives on Platforms and Cultural Production. International Journal of Cultural Studies

Ongoing Grants 

• Co-Principal Investigator: Decoding digital media in African regions of conflict (DDMAC). Research Council of Norway. (With Prof Dr. Kristin Skare Orgeret and Prof. Dr Mirjam de Bruijn). Project number: 325123  (Ending December 2024)