In her academic career, Melanie Schiller is motivated by a curiosity about the relationship between popular music and society, and about the political functions of music. Whether it is research on German popular music and national identity, music and the mainstreaming of the populist radical right in Sweden, or her current research on music, democracy, polarisation and protest movements, according to Schiller, it is clear that music is a powerful medium not only to express political ideas, but also to shape political transformations. 'In my new position as Professor of Contemporary Media Cultures at Radboud University, it is my mission to connect research in the fields of cultural studies and political science with societal stakeholders to address pressing challenges together', Schiller says.
About Melanie Schiller
Melanie Schiller (Düsseldorf, 1981) began her academic career at the University of Amsterdam, where she completed the research master's degree in Media Studies in 2007. At the University of Amsterdam, she also carried out PhD research on German popular music and post-war national identity and continued her academic career at the University of Groningen. There, she was assistant professor of Media Studies and Popular Music until the end of 2023.
In her academic career, Schiller received several grants and fellowships, including for a major international research project in 2019 - Popular Music and the Rise of Populism in Europe (Volkswagen Stiftung); in this project Schiller and her colleagues investigated the role of music in mainstreaming populism in Europe. In response to the challenges posed by the Covid crisis, Schiller together with her colleagues successfully applied for additional funding to broaden the focus of the project and explore the changing political and cultural dynamics arising from new populist coalitions within Covid-related protest movements.