N. Kadastik (Nele) MSc

Nele Kadastik is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Language and Communication where her research explores narrative persuasion and the potential of storytelling to foster prosocial engagement.
Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Augmented Cognition Lab at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, contributing to the EU Horizon 2020 project SPICE, which developed digital tools to foster citizen participation and engagement in the cultural heritage sector. In addition, she has co-lectured on the Medialogy MSc course Narratives in Interactive Systems and conducted research on perception, cognition, affective states, and aesthetic experience in relation to multimodal media, extended reality, and cognitive technologies. She is a member of the EU COST action INDCOR (Interactive Narrative Design for Complexity Representations, CA18230) and contributes to the ARDIN (Association for Research in Digital Interactive Narratives) research community.

Her PhD project investigates questions such as: ‘To what extent can narratives influence prosocial attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors?’ and ‘Which narrative characteristics and processes drive the persuasive effects of such narratives?’ In addition, the project explores how novel and immersive technologies (e.g., interactive digital narratives and XR narratives) can be used to support prosocial storytelling.

• Language and Communication Effects