Projects per year
Personal profile
Expertise
Dr. Annelien Smets is Research Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Solvay Business School. She teaches in the Bsc. Communicatiewetenschappen and Msc. Digital Media in Europe. Her course topics deal with media and digital economics, digital business models.
Dr. Smets is senior researcher at imec-SMIT (Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and member of the research unit on Media Economics & Policy, where she acts as the principle investigator on recommender systems. Her main research interests are:
- Recommender Systems & Personalization
- Media Markets
- Digital Economics & Innovation
- Discovery & Serendipity
- Platform Urbanism
Currently, she is project lead of the strategic research project (SBO) Serendipity Engine, funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO). She is also Track 1 lead of the Strategic Research Programme (SRP) on media economics. Annelien is Chair of the Serendipity Academic Researchers Network.
Annelien holds a PhD in Media and Communication Studies and a Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence, specializing in speech and language technologies.
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics where Annelien Smets is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
Projects
- 3 Active
-
FWOTM1251: Nudging towards viewpoint diversity? Evaluating the impact of LLM-enabled explanations on diversity consumption in news recommender
Maes, U. (Mandate), Smets, A. (Administrative Promotor) & Raats, T. (CoI (Co-Promotor))
1/11/24 → 31/10/28
Project: Fundamental
-
IOF3028: SHALGO - A valorisation programme for social science and humanities research on algorithmic systems
Ballon, P. (Administrative Promotor), Van Audenhove, L. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Raats, T. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Picone, I. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Willems, K. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Brengman, M. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Van den Broeck, W. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Morganti, L. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Marien, I. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Jacobs, A. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Heyman, R. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Ranaivoson, H. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Smets, A. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Kalogeropoulos, A. (CoI (Co-Promotor)), Delaere, S. (Mandate) & Lievens, B. (Mandate)
1/01/24 → 31/12/28
Project: Applied
-
FWOSBO50: SBO Project with primary societal finality: Serendipity Engine: towards surprising and interesting urban experiences
Ballon, P. (Administrative Promotor) & Smets, A. (CoI (Co-Promotor))
1/10/22 → 30/09/26
Project: Applied
-
A Bourdieusian theory on communicating an opinion about AI governance
Binst, B., Bircan, T. & Smets, A., Jun 2025, In: AI & Society. 40, 5, p. 3431-3473 43 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Beyond rational choice: A typology of urban discovery
Binst, B., Michiels, L. & Smets, A., Apr 2026, In: Tourism Management. 61 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
-
From Experimentation to Strategy: The Ambidextrous Balancing Act of Developing News Recommender Systems
Vandenbroucke, H. & Smets, A., 22 Nov 2025, In: Journal of Media Business Studies. 31 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Handbook of Platform Urbanism
Smets, A. (Editor) & Ballon, P. (Editor), 2025, (Accepted/In press) Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research
-
Intended, Afforded, and Experienced Serendipity: Overcoming the Paradox of Artificial Serendipity
Smets, A., Jun 2025, In: Ethics and Information Technology. 27, 3, p. 1-14 14 p., 33.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access
Datasets
-
Interview transcripts: Brett Binst, Lien Michiels, and Annelien Smets (2025). What Is Serendipity? An Interview Study to Conceptualize Experienced Serendipity in Recommender Systems. In Proceedings of the 33rd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP '25)
Binst, B. (Creator), Michiels, L. (Creator) & Smets, A. (Creator), Zenodo, 7 May 2025
Dataset
Prizes
-
-
-
Women in RecSys: Journal Paper of the Year Award
Smets, A. (Recipient), 2023
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
-
Overcoming the Paradox of Artificial Serendipity in Recommender Systems
Smets, A. (Speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
-
Ingenieur & Maatschappij - Ontwerpen voor serendipiteit
Smets, A. (Speaker)
19 Nov 2025Activity: Other › Research and Teaching at External Organisation
-
Intended, afforded, and experienced serendipity: overcoming the paradox of artificial serendipity
Smets, A. (Speaker)
22 Sept 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
-
Dagstuhl Seminar 24211: Evaluation Perspectives of Recommender Systems:
Smets, A. (Participant) & Michiels, L. (Participant)
20 May 2024 → 24 May 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar
-
Recommenders and Digital Economics
Smets, A. (Lecturer)
11 Oct 2024Activity: Other › Research and Teaching at External Organisation
Press/Media
-
Vlaamse wetenschappers werken aan ‘zoekmachine’ die vindt wat je niet zoekt
30/08/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
-
Wissenschaft – Zufällig genial (Science - Accidentally brilliant)
12/09/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
-
Is Instagram net zo slecht voor uw gezondheid als een sigaret?
24/01/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
-
-
Moederbedrijf Facebook komt met Twitter-kloon: “Dit zou hét alternatief kunnen zijn”
4/07/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment