Marica Spalletta is an associate professor in Sociology of Culture and Communication at the Link Campus University of Rome, Department of Human Sciences. Her research focuses on the mediatization of cultural products and agenda-setting processes, forms of media representation and audience perspectives, and the credibility issue. Over the last twenty years she has directed or investigated several national and international research projects in the field of media sociology, among which the European project GEMINI-Gender Equality Through Media Investigation and New training Insights (CERV-2022-GE). Among her publications: “Streaming Youth in the Platform Culture. A Four-Country Study on Serial Dramas’ Consumption, Algorithmic Mediation and Transnational Engagement” (2025); “On-screen leadership models and beyond-the-screen celebrification processes in the Italian teen drama Mare fuori” (2025); “Unsuitable Jobs for Women. Women’s Behind-the-Scenes Employment and Female On-Screen Representation in Italian TV Crime Drama” (2023); “Audiences of popular European television crime drama: A nine-country study on consumption patterns, attitudes, and drivers of transcultural connection” (2023). Valentina Re is a full professor at the Department of Literary, Linguistic and Comparative Studies at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, where she teaches Film History and Italian Cinema. Her research focuses on media and literary theory, production and distribution studies, film and television industry, streaming media, cultural diversity and gender equality. She is experienced in the implementation of complex research projects supported by national and international funding bodies, including the EU-funded projects DETECt (2018-2021) and GEMINI (2023-2025). From 2022 to 2025 she was the PI of the project The Atlas of Italian ‘Giallo’: Media History and Popular Culture (1954-2020), funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. Her work has appeared in journals including The Italianist, Necsus, View, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of European Popular Culture. Among her recent publications are the books Che cos’è Netflix (2026); Peripheral Locations in European TV Crime Series (2024, coauthored with K. T. Hansen); and Le belle donne ci piacciono. E come! “Cinema nuovo”, cultura comunista e modelli di mascolinità (1952-1958) (2021, co-authored with Elisa Mandelli). Kim Toft Hansen is associate professor in Media Studies at Aalborg University, Department of Culture and Communication, where he teaches media and communication studies at all levels. As a researcher, he has participated in several international projects, including the DETECt – Detecting Transcultural Identity in European Popular Crime Narratives (H2020, 2018-21), GEMINI – Gender Equality Through Media Investigation and New training Insights (CERV, 2023-25), and What Makes Danish TV Drama Series Travel? (DFF, 2014-18). Presently, he leads the project GAIYA – Generative AI in Education for Young Adults: A Gender-Inclusive Nordic-Baltic Perspective (Nordforsk, 2026-30). He has worked intensively with and published about serial drama for several years, including publications like Peripheral Locations in European TV Crime Series (with Valentina Re), European Television Crime Drama and Beyond (co-edited with Sue Turnbull and Steven Peacock), and Locating Nordic Noir: From Beck to The Bridge (2017, with Anne Marit Waade). His recent ventures have focussed on the role of generative AI in research and teaching, including the recent article “Media production studies for the digital age: AI-driven analyses of Jonas Risvig’s Danish young adult content” (2025).
