Daniel Lövgren

Teacher and researcher in Media and Communication Studies, with a particular interest in communication and organizations. The research involves studies on the institutional conditions of communication in higher education and public sector organizations. Currently exploring issues of identity and identification in elderly care; strategic communication in HE; narratives of food labels (GIs); role of place in small-scale food and drinks production on Gotland; organizationality and local food.

Strategic Communication and Organizing in the Scandinavian Higher Education Sector: Towards the Promotional University?
With: Hogne Sataøen (ÖRU) and Simon Neby (UiB)

Today, strategic communication is a phenomenon all universities prioritize. Examples are numerous: The creation of social media accounts, use of symbols and values, accentuated interest in international rankings, production of multimodal material, extensive sale of merchandises, and a rapid growth of communication departments. Strategic communication also creates tensions between classical ideals of the university, and ideals related to the “The Promotional University.” The aim of the project is, by means of qualitative research methods, to develop knowledge about the challenges, tensions and pressures shaped by the proliferation of strategic communication in Scandinavian higher education institutions. The project takes its point of departure in the Scandinavian context, and it is structured into three sub-studies: (a) the development of communicational strategies, plans and activities; (b) professional ideals embedded in the production of promotional material; and (c) multimodal content produced by universities. The project will contribute with novel empirical insights about important transformation process in higher education. The project will also employ a comparative, holistic and multiple-case approach, as well as innovatively integrating insights from institutional organization theory and multimodal communication research. Ongoing 2021-2025.

Organizing REKO: The Viability of a Local Food System in Finland, Sweden & Latvia (at Södertörn University)
With: Emma Christensen (Roskilde University), Hanna Leipämaa-Leskinen (Vasa University), and Steffi Siegert (Linneaus University). Project located at Södertörn University, with Daniel Lövgren as the project leader. The purpose of this project is to explore what makes REKO viable in three variously mature contexts in the Baltic Sea Region: Finland, Sweden, and Latvia. For this purpose we adopt the theory of organizationality – a communication based view on how loose social formations achieve degrees of “organization-ness” through interconnected processes of identity, actorhood and decision-making – and theorizing of place. Project started in August 2023, and ends summer 2026.

See more at: organizingreko.com

Network: Organizing Local Food
An initiative funded by the Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society (CIRCUS) during 2023-2024 with the aim to build an interdisciplinary network, including UU scholars from information systems, business studies, sociology, political sciences, human geography, and earth sciences. Lövgren's role to develop and lead the network. Check out ours and other UU/CIRCUS networks here.