Esben Nedenskov Petersen to become new Head of department at KOMM

Esben Nedenskov Petersen will take over as the new head of the Department of Communication when Jens-Erik Mai steps down at the end of August. Today, Esben Nedenskov Petersen is an associate professor and deputy head of department at the Department of Design, Media and Educational Science at the University of Southern Denmark.

'In Esben, the appointment committee met a candidate who, with his background, experience and approach to management, is a very good match for KOMM with the ambitions, academic breadth and organisation that characterises the department. Esben brings attentiveness and an eye for creating good cooperation between employees, students, managers and the department head to the role. He has a fine balance between thoughtfulness and willingness to solve problems. I'm looking forward to welcoming him to the faculty management team,' says Dean Kirsten Busch Nielsen.

A department with strong academic competences and high relevance

Esben Nedenskov Petersen's research is based on the philosophy of language and pragmatics and spans such areas as hate speech, health communication, questionnaires in health research, epistemology and dialogue in teaching. In recent years, his research has focused on user perspectives in healthcare practice and research. He has also worked with continuing education of upper secondary school teachers within the theory of science, and participated in cross-disciplinary research projects on, amongst other things, online hate speech and e-health.

'The Department of Communication has strong academic environments and degree programmes that are both ambitious and important for our society. I look forward to getting to know the department better and to working with staff and students to further develop research, teaching and a good work environment,' says Associate Professor Esben Nedenskov Petersen.

Thank you to Jens-Erik Mai

The appointment also marks the stepping down of Jens-Erik Mai from the position of Head of department at the end of August.

'We will not say goodbye to Jens-Erik Mai until the end of August, when he resumes his role as professor after eight years as Head of department. But at this point, I would like to thank Jens-Erik for all his hard work as head of department. Jens-Erik has headed KOMM since the merger that created the department, and has managed KOMM very competently in both academic and organisational terms. Jens-Erik has also played a key role in the faculty management team, not least when it has been a question of driving development,' says Dean Kirsten Busch Nielsen.