Daniela Jaramillo-Dent is Senior Research and Teaching Associate at the Media Change and Innovation Division, at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), University of Zurich (UZH) and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). She is an internet scholar and speaker whose research and teaching span platform cultures, influencer studies, digital ethnography, and critical approaches to social media ecosystems. Her work examines how algorithmic logics, platform governance, and immaterial labor and value shape content creation, visibility, and participation, with a sustained focus on diasporic communities, Latin America, and the Majority World. She also develops and teaches visual and platform-based methods for examining digital cultures and human-computer interaction, contributing to methodological innovation in internet research. Her teaching has received awards at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) at the University of Zurich (UZH), and her research has been recognized with various awards nationally and internationally.
Daniela serves as Board Student and Early Career Representative at the International Communication Association (ICA), Key Regional Leader of the TikTok Cultures Research Network (Curtin University, Australia), Latin America AI Lead at the Inclusive AI Lab (Utrecht University, Netherlands), member of the Content Creators Research Network, and inaugural Associate Editor of the journal Creator and Influencer Studies (Springer Nature).
Projects
The Media Competence of Instatubers
Instagramers and youtubers for the transmedia empowerment of Andalusian citizens.
Media in Action is a project in educator training in media literacy and storytelling.
Courses
MA Research Seminar on Content Creators and their Social Media Ecosystems
University of Zurich (Fall 2025)
Content Creators and their Social Media Ecosystems (BA Seminar and MA Seminar)
University of Zurich (Spring 2025 and Spring 2026)
Qualitative Multimodal Approaches to Visual Social Media (MA Seminar)
University of Zurich (Fall 2024)
University of Huelva
Qualitative content analysis, the walkthrough method, fieldnote taking and issues of positionality, reflexivity.
University of Huelva and International University of Andalusia
Social media formats and configurations, memes, social media languages and visibility.
Social media for higher education
UTPL (Ecuador)
Integration of social media languages and formats in higher education.
Research Seminar: Cultural Identities and New Media (Guest Lecture)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Discussed the study of culture on social media. Discussed methodological and theoretical issues with identifying and studying cultural issues on social media (immigrant creators on TikTok and Instagram)
Research seminar: Media and Migration (guest lecture)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Discussed my research on immigrant tiktokers and instagrammers discussing immigration, provided methodological and analytical insights and approaches.
Contact
Daniela Jaramillo-Dent, PhD
Senior Research and Teaching Associate
djaramillod@gmail.com
Department of Media and Communication Research
Andreasstrasse 15
Room number: AND 3.40
8050 Zurich