MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF 2026)

Description

USP‑CEU is seeking excellent postdoctoral researchers interested in applying for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA‑PF 2026). The University CEU holds the HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) Award and is strongly committed to attracting and supporting international research talent.

USP‑CEU is a competitive and supportive host institution for MSCA‑PF candidates, with a strong track record including 10 awarded fellowships, an exceptional 100/100 score, and two recent successes in the MSCA‑PF 2025 call. We offer personalised guidance throughout the proposal preparation process, as well as our International Talent Retention Programme, which provides successful MSCA Fellows with an additional 6–12‑month contract to support long‑term career development.

Hosting Research Group

The Consolidated Research Group on Internet, Radio, and Television Convergence (INCIRTV) was created in 2010 within the Department of Audiovisual Communication of the School of Humanities and Communication Sciences at CEU San Pablo University.

During this time, it has organized congresses, research conferences and seminars, as well as promoted publications in high-impact publishing houses and academic journals. It has also integrated investigators that have participated and/or led research projects at both national and international level.

The proposed supervisor within the INCIRTV group, Roberto Gelado has been working in the last eight years as a principal investigator of both national and European projects investigating the impact of information disorders and ways to lessen their impacts on society. In 2019 he was the PI of a project selected by Facebook and Luca de Tena foundation in an open call for Spanish investigators. The investigation outlined different profiles of vulnerability to disinformation in Spain, and can be downloaded here.

As from 2021, Prof. Gelado has been the PI of the USPCEU node integrated in Iberifier, one of the strategic hubs funded by the European Commission through the European Digital Media Observatory to fight disinformation. The project has focused on researching the nature of information disorders and techniques to combat it in the Iberian region and has received funding through two consecutive periods of 30 months each, from September 2021 to February 2024, and from May 2024 to October 2026.

Relevant publications and projects

1. Carrillo, N., Montagut, M., & Gelado Marcos, R. (2026). Digital Resilience to Disinformation: From Libraries to Citizens. Media and Communication, (14), Article 11404. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11404
2. Gelado-Marcos, R., Ventura-Salom, B., Poch-Butler, S.L., & De-la-Calle-Velasco, G. (2025). Hoax hunters or disentanglers of disinforming narratives? Iberian fact-checking and the fight against disinformation. Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación/Mediterranean Journal of Communication, 16(2), e28237. https://www.doi.org/10.14198/MEDCOM.28237
3. Ventura-Salom, B., & Gelado Marcos, R. (2025). Watching the watchers: analysis of ideological biases in the contents analyzed by reference fact-checking agencies in Spain & Portugal. Comunicación Y Sociedad, pp. 1–26. https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v2025.8900
4. Poch-Butler, S. L., Gelado-Marcos, R., Ventura-Salom, B., & De la Calle Velasco, G. (2024). Fact-checking in electoral processes and permanent campaign. A comparative analysis between Spain and Portugal. Revista Latina De Comunicación Social, (83), 1–27. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2025-2318
5. Gelado-Marcos, R., & Moreno Felices, P. (2022). Disinformation as a Widespread Problem and Vulnerability Factors Toward it: Evidence From a Quasi-Experimental Survey in Spain. International Journal of Communication, (16), 3529-3625.

Research Project Description

Over recent years, major political bodies such as the European Commission (2018) have consistently warned that the scale of disinformation represents one of the most serious threats to society at large and to contemporary democratic systems in particular (Syrovátka et al., 2023; Bradshaw and Howard, 2018; Bennet and Livingstone, 2018). The political dimension of disinformation became especially visible during two landmark events: the 2016 United States presidential election and the Brexit referendum. According to the academic literature, these moments marked the beginning of a broader pattern that has since unfolded across multiple electoral contexts worldwide. Following the 2016 US election, disinformation has been documented in numerous subsequent processes, including the 2018 Brazilian elections (Santos, 2020) and the 2020 US elections (Benaissa, 2020; 2021). More broadly, its presence has been identified in a wide range of cases, such as the 2016 Cape Verdean presidential elections (Novais, 2021), the 2017 independence referendum (Alandete, 2019), the April 2019 Spanish general elections (Magallón-Rosa, 2019), and the Portuguese parliamentary elections held that same year (Baptista & Gradim, 2022).

The USP-CEU node of Iberifier has been studying the impact of disinformation in the Iberian region over the last years, with a special emphasis on fact-checking and media literacy to counter its harming effects. The proposed research project would continue these lines of enquiry and add insights on the new challenges that have been shaping more recent realities, such as the increasingly blurred boundaries in the perception of real vs fabricated content brought along by the development of AI tools, or the need for specific AI literacy actions to empower citizens in digital environments.

Candidate requirements:

Dynamic postdoctoral candidates of any nationality (max. 8 years after defense) with:

• PhD in Communication or Information Science and Engineering
• Strong background on the study of political systems and the mass media
• Preferred acquaintance with research on media influence and information disorders.

Applicants are encouraged to submit an expression of interest to roberto.geladomarcos@ceu.es Your file should contain the following elements:

• A short CV (Max. 2 pages)
• A one-page research proposal
• Two letters of reference

For MSCA-PF 26 call, at the deadline for the submission of proposals (09/09/2026) candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activities in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the above mentioned deadline.

Those files received before 15th of June will be considered for MSCA-PF 2026 call. Applications received after this date, will be considered for other calls after discussion with the candidate.

Keywords: Media and Information Literacy, AI Literacy, Disinformation, Polarisation, Democracy