Catedrático de Universidad
Distinguished Research Professor, Chair in Political Behavior
Democracy Research Unit, Casa del Bedel, c/Benedicto XVI, 22 Despacho 26
Tfno: 923 29 44 00 - Ext. 6398
Fax 923 29 45 16
Email: hgz@usal.es
Email: hgz@usal.es
Homero Gil de Zúñiga, is Doctor in Political Science by the Universidad Europea de Madrid and also completed a Ph.D. in Mass Communication with a minor in Digital Media at University of Wisconsin – Madison. His education also includes the Oxford Internet Institute’s Summer Doctoral Program at University of Oxford, UK.
Gil de Zúñiga currently serves Distinguished Research Professor – Chair in Political Behavior in Political Science at University of Salamanca, where he directs the Democracy Research Unit (DRU), as Distinguished Professor of Media Studies and Artificial Intelligence at Pennsylvania State University, and as Senior Research Fellow at Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. Prior to these appointments he was the Medienwandel Professor at University of Vienna, Associate Professor at University of Texas – Austin, and Research Fellow at several Institutions (i.e., Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University, Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, and ASCoR’s McQuail Honorary Fellow at University of Amsterdam).
In general, his work draws from theoretically driven research, aiming to shed an empirical social scientific light over how social media, algorithms, AI, and other technologies affect society. Relying on survey, experimental, and computational methods his work seeks to clarify the way we understand some of today’s most pressing challenges for democracies.
He has published several books and book chapters with prestigious academic publishers including his latest (forthcoming) book Social Media Democracy Mirage with Cambridge University Press. Likewise, his work (over 140 ISI/JCR articles) has been published in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals such as (alphabetically): American Behavioral Scientist, British Journal of Psychology, Communication Resarch, Computers in Human Behavior, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Digital Journalism, El Profesional de la Información, Human Communication Research, Information, Communication & Society, The Information Society, International Journal of Communication, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Journalism, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies, Mass Communication & Society, Media Psychology, New Media & Society, Online Information Review, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Political Communication, Politics, Political Psychology, Public Understanding of Science, REIS: Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Revista Internacional de Sociología, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, Social Media + Society, Social Science Computer Review, The Social Science Journal, Social Science Quarterly, Telematics & Informatics, among others.
He has presented nearly 200 articles at professional scientific meetings around the globe in the fields of journalism, communication, political science, and psychology, receiving over 20 Top Paper Research Awards from the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), the International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the American Political Science Association (APSA). Furthermore, he has held different administrative positions at several of these associations across these past years.
In this capacity of expert, he also serves as ad hoc reviewer for over 60 scientific journals, and sits at over 20 Editorial Boards as for instance, Human Communication Research, International Journal of Communication, International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Journalism & Communication Monographs, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Profesional de la Información, Revista de Comunicación Política, Social Media + Society, Social Science Computer Review, etc.
Gil de Zúñiga is recipient of the Pennsylvania State University Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Fellow of the International Communication Association (ICA), Fellow of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recipient of the Krieghbaum Under-40 Award at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC), and has recently been identified as one of the most prolific scholars in Political Communication and Social Media 2008/2018 (Sierra & Rodríguez-Virgili, 2020), one of the most bridging and central node Communication scholars in Latin America (Segado-Boj et al., 2021), and recognized as Thomson Reuters Clarivate Journal of Citation Reports (JCR) Highly Cited Scholar in 2020 and 2022.
In total he has received more than 50 grants, top paper research awards, and recognitions as principal investigator, co-principal investigator or as executive member, totaling nearly 5 million dollars. Lastly, he also serves as academic source to inform and help journalists in their reporting (i.e., USA Today, Al Jazeera, Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Dallas Morning News, El Tiempo (Colombia), ABC News, National Public Radio (NPR), FOX News, CBS News, National Review, The Atlantic, etc.