SMIT, established in 1990 at the Communications Department of VUB, is a research group
specialized in social science research on media and ICT. In 2004, SMIT was one of two VUB groups to
be selected for the Flemish Strategic Research Centre IBBT (Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband
Technology, later renamed iMinds). In 2016, SMIT was the only social science group selected in the
merger between iMinds and imec (the world-leading R&D organisation in nanotechnology). SMIT now
heads imec’s Humanized Technologies programme. We therefore function both as VUB research centre
and as one of the core imec groups3. We are one of the largest and best recognised groups in Europe in
the field of digital media & society, consisting of 134 people (111 FTE) of which 22 Professors, 4 postdoc
researchers, 58 project researchers (WPP), 14 dedicated PhD mandates, 11 Assistants (AAP), 13 external
researchers (voluntary/joint PhDs), and 12 ATP staff (admin and project managers). We are highly
diverse in gender (40% M & 60% F), nationalities (66% BE, 20% other EU, 14% non-EU) and disciplines
(incl. comm sciences, economics, psychology, marketing, sociology, history).
SMIT’s mission statement is to “make technology society-proof”. This refers to the ‘domestication’
school in media and technology studies. Our goal is to understand the impact of digital media on
everyday practices and create design, strategy and policy guidelines to shape responsible innovation. To
do this, SMIT combines user, business and policy analysis with both qualitative and quantitative
methodologies. After COVID, we redefined what binds us together, and formulated three core SMIT
values: be critical experts, cooperate, and make a difference in society.
SMIT counts 6 research units that work closely together: Media, Marketing and User Experience
(MUX), Media Economics and Policy (MEP), News: Uses, Strategies and Engagement (NUSE), Digital
Health and Work (DHW), Data Governance and Communities (DGC) and Digital Inclusion and Citizen
Engagement (DICE). Their research is translated into concrete guidelines, policies and toolsets by our 3
knowledge centres: Mediawijs (on media literacy), Data and Society (on ethical aspects of data and AI)
and Mediapunt (on media policy). For optimal cooperation, we aim that every research unit has max. 15
researchers, of which ideally 2 ZAP and 1-2 postdoc, and every knowledge centre 5 to 10 people,
overseen by 1 ZAP and 1 ATP. In 2022, we became a cross-departmental research group, with the
addition of professors and researchers from the Business Department, specialized in digital marketing
and neuroscience. In line with our interdisciplinary approach, we integrated them in the existing MUX
unit, since their methods are highly complementary to our user experience work.
With the BAS injection, SMIT hopes to evolve into the leading centre on behaviour & technology,
with a strong fundamental portfolio and solid methodologies for a.o. modelling from large datasets.