I work on strengthening primary care at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and am completing my PhD at Tilburg University. My research explores how the media cover political conflict and cooperation across democracies.
I am a policy officer at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, where I work on strengthening primary care. My work focuses on regional cooperation and access to general practice: how healthcare professionals and organisations can work together to make care accessible.
Alongside my policy work, I am completing my PhD at Tilburg University, supervised by Frank Hendriks and Niels Karsten. My research examines how political systems shape media coverage. Political conflict attracts attention, but governing often requires cooperation and compromise. I study how these different sides of politics are reflected in the news and how political parties navigate them on social media.
Contact meAt Tilburg University, I have taught political science and supervised bachelor’s and master’s theses, research assignments and internships. I particularly enjoyed helping students turn a broad interest into a question they could investigate.
I live in Tilburg and have roots in both the Netherlands and Turkey. My interest in politics extends well beyond my work, as does my enthusiasm for discussing how society could be fairer.
Outside work, I enjoy discovering new places, good food, books and a series that makes it difficult to stop watching. I am also a devoted Trabzonspor supporter. If you are planning a trip to Turkey, I will happily offer food recommendations.
My dissertation, When Conflict Sells and Consensus Governs, examines how democratic institutions shape political news and communication. Across four studies, I explore how conflict, cooperation and the pursuit of media attention interact in different political contexts.
How do newspapers report on election promises? Together with Niels Karsten, I compared coverage in the Netherlands and the United States. We found that strategy, competition, conflict, personalisation and negativity feature prominently in both countries—but not always as expected. Coverage of election promises was more negative in the Netherlands than in the US.
Published in Acta Politica (2021).
Together with Niels Karsten and Frank Hendriks, I analysed 1,463 newspaper articles from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2020. The study shows how political institutions and the composition of governments help explain differences in news coverage, including its emphasis on competition, personalisation and cooperation.
Published in Journalism (2024).
Drawing on interviews with online campaign managers during the 2021 Dutch election, I examine how parties balance attracting attention with maintaining relationships with potential coalition partners. The findings show that parties embrace personalisation and a positive tone while often exercising restraint in attacking one another.
Submitted for publication.
How do the media cover political compromise? Using automated content analysis of 5,236 Dutch newspaper articles from 2000 to 2020, I examine coverage of coalition agreements. More inclusive governing coalitions are associated with less emphasis on strategy, conflict and negativity, and more positive coverage.
Submitted for publication.
In this paper, I explore the state of affairs of big data in the public sector and the related challenges and possibilities.
If you want to know more about this project, please get in touch with me. Unfortunately, the paper is only accessible in Dutch, but I’m happy to share more details with you.
