Vera Slavcheva-Petkova

Room A0:07
Schofield Building
Department of Social Sciences 
Loughborough University 
Loughborough 
Leicestershire LE11 3TU 
England

Telephone: (0)1509 228360

Fax:+44 (0)1509 223944

Email: V.Y.Slavtcheva-Petkova@lboro.ac.uk

Nationality:Bulgarian

Start Date: July 2008

Status: Full-time

Academic Biography:

MA (with Distinction) The European Union: Media, Politics and Society, University of East Anglia, 2007, British Council Chevening Scholarship
BA (Hons) Journalism and Mass Communication, American University in Bulgaria, 2001, AUBG Full Scholarship.

Current Research:

Children’s Perceptions and Media Representations of the European Union: A Cross-National Comparative Study

The study aims at exploring the link between children’s perceptions of and identifications with and media representations of Europe and the European Union in Bulgaria and England. Apart from media’s influence, the research also examines the importance of the other socialization agents, namely school, parents and peers as well as the impact of external factors such as class, nationality, ethnicity, gender.

The study incorporates a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including face-to-face interviews with children, survey with their parents, media content analysis, interviews with teachers and headteachers and analysis of textbooks.

Theoretically, the research draws on the sociological understanding of collective identities (Jenkins 1996), Bourdieu’s habitus, media agenda-setting theory and audience-driven approaches.  

Research Interests:

Media and collective identities such as national identity and European identity;
Children as audiences; parental mediation, agenda-setting theory, habitus.

Funding Body: Loughborough University, Department of Social Sciences.

Supervisors: Dr Sabina Mihelj

Involvement in Department:

Cultural and Media Analysis Group (CaMARG)

Tutor for Introduction to Communication and Media Studies A and B modules

Professional Activities:

I have worked as an editor in 24 Hours  – a daily newspaper, which is second in circulation in Bulgaria and is owned by the German group WAZ. Apart from my editing responsibilities in the Editorials, Analysis and Letters to the Editor department of the newspaper, I have also coordinated the newspaper’s coverage on Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union in the years before Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007.

Research

Publications:

Slavtcheva-Petkova, Vera. January 2010: ‘The Invisible Europe: Media’s Influence on Children’s ‘European’ Identities’, Paper presented at the MeCCSA Conference. London: London School of Economics.

Slavtcheva-Petkova, Vera. October 2009: ‘British Children, Media and the European Union’, Paper presented at the 3rd Graduate Conference on Social Sciences and Management. Bradford: University of Bradford.

Slavtcheva-Petkova, Vera. September 2009: ‘Children, Media and the EU: Are British Pupils European?’, Paper Presented at the 9th Conference of the European Sociological Association: European Society or European Societies. Lisbon: University of Lisbon.

Slavtcheva-Petkova, Vera. Spring 2007: ‘Bulgaria’s Path to the EU: Intergovernmentalism in EU Enlargement’, Irrational Journal of International Relations, Issue 3.

Links: