Betto van Waarden (B.A.F.)

Betto van Waarden is Assistant Professor of History at Maastricht University. He researches the history of politics and mass media in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has focused on the personalization of politics, parliamentary communication, the attention economy, and transnational public spheres. His new research interests include time and politics, disinformation and democracy, and the interdisciplinary study of attention. 

Betto van Waarden holds a BA in liberal arts and sciences from Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Oregon), an MPhil in political thought and intellectual history from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in political history from KU Leuven. He has worked as a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Communication and Media at Lund University, and as a FWO postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History at KU Leuven. He has also been a visiting fellow at the University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, Centre for Parliamentary History (Radboud University), Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, and Leiden University.

Van Waarden has a background in politics and media himself, having worked for the European Commission in Brussels, the World Affairs Council, United Nations Information Center, and Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, and the news magazine De Groene Amsterdammer in Amsterdam.

Van Waarden’s research has been published in journals across academic disciplines, including the English Historical Review, European Review of History, Media History, Journalism History, Parliamentary Affairs, Democracy & Education, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. His new book Politicians and Mass Media in the Age of Empire is forthcoming in the series New Studies in European History of Cambridge University Press. Van Waarden has also written on media and politics in popular media such as The Conversation, Le Monde Diplomatique, De Volkskrant, Het Financieele Dagblad and De Morgen.

Van Waarden’s scholarship has earned him the Tom Reilly Award for Excellence in Journalism History Research.

Van Waarden speaks fluent Dutch, English and German, and intermediate Portuguese, Spanish, and French.