Dr. Valérie Bélair-Gagnon is an Associate Professor and Cowles Fellow in Media Management at the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication. She is also a Waldfogel Scholar of the College of Liberal Arts (2023-26) and McKnight Presidential Fellow (2022-2025) at the University of Minnesota. Her affiliations include the Department of Communication at Oslo Metropolitan University, the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, and Yale Law School Information Society Project.

Before joining the University of Minnesota, she was Executive Director and Research Scholar (2014-16) as well as Postdoctoral Fellow (2013-14) at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and Fellow at Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University (2016). Born in Montréal (Québec, Canada), she earned a BA in Sociology (Honors) from McGill University, an MSc in Sociology from Université de Montréal, and a PhD in Sociology from City, University of London. Before that, she worked in communications and project management in Montréal (corporate, non-profit, and community radio). 

She uses qualitative methods and hybrid methodologies and theories at the intersection of the sociology of work/organizations and journalism studies. She has published 60+ books, edited volumes, articles, book chapters, white papers, and reports. She is the author of the books The Paradox of Connection (Illinois University Press, 2024, with Diana Bossio, Logan Molyneux, and Avery E. Holton), Happiness in Journalism (Routledge, 2023, with Avery E. Holton, Mark Deuze, and Claudia Mellado), Journalism Research that Matters (Oxford University Press, 2021, with Nikki Usher), and Social Media at BBC News (Routledge, 2015). 

Her areas of interest are media innovation, engagement, sociology of work, happiness and well-being, and the business of journalism.

Educational Background & Specialties
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Educational Background

  • B.A.: Sociology, McGill University, 2004
  • M.Sc.: Sociology, Université de Montréal, 2007
  • Ph.D.: Sociology, City University London, 2013

Specialties

  • Journalism studies
  • Audience engagement
  • Media management
  • Digital news innovation
  • Well being and happiness in organizations
  • Media work and labor