At our next Transylvania Lectures event, Dr Ashley Frawley and Dr Ioan Hosu will discuss the role of the public discourse around mental health in our society and how communication is a crucial element in understanding and addressing social problems.

Dr Ashley Frawley is a sociologist at the University of Kent and a Visiting Researcher at MCC Brussels. She was previously Associate Professor of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy at Swansea University. She is the author of two books, Semiotics of Happiness: Rhetorical Beginnings of a Public Problem (2015) and Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age (2024). She is a columnist at Compact magazine and also writes for a variety of other publications including UnHerd and the New Statesman. She regularly appears in the mainstream media commenting on a variety of issues including the BBC, Sky News, Times Radio and more.

Dr Ioan Hosu is a sociologist and Director of the Department of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising at the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences of Babeș-Bolyai University. His areas of teaching and research interest overlap communication issues with those related to community relations. Through his work he contributes to a better understanding of the factors that sustain a good community, supporting the idea that good education and the permanent study of current social realities have a significant positive impact on the quality of life at individual, group and community level.

Dr Ashley Frawley’s presentation will explore the way that governments, organisations and institutions have used mental health to frame illiberal turns in their policymaking over the past decade. It contests the idea that there is a widespread and growing "mental health crisis" around the world and critically considers the consequences of this framing. 

Dr Ioan Hosu will briefly present themes and issues recently addressed by research teams at the Department of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising of Babeș-Bolyai University.

The moderator of the discussion will be Emőke Gábor, Psychologist, MCC alumna.

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