Simón Peña-Fernández is a Full Professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU). He obtained his degree in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarra and a PhD in Information Sciences at the UPV / EHU. He developed his professional activity in Euskaldunon Egunkaria and Berria.

Professor at the UPV / EHU since 1999, he has taught mainly subjects related to journalistic writing, online journalism and news design (Informative genres, Principles of journalistic design).

Since 2004 he has published 80 articles in academic journals and has presented a hundred papers and communications at national and international conferences. All these publications have always been associated with continued participation in around thirty research projects financed in competitive public calls, among them, eight European projects (Horizon 2020 and Erasmus +), five projects of the National Plan, in addition to those carried out for the UPV / EHU and the Basque Studies Society - Eusko Ikaskuntza, among others. He has also led ten relevant research and transfer contracts with public entities (the Basque Parliament, Euskal Irrati Telebista and the Basque Institute for Women - Emakunde) and has participated in five educational innovation projects.

At present, he is member of the research group of the Basque university system Gureiker and the teaching innovation group KZberri.

• ORCID: 0000-0003-2080-3241  
• Scopus Author ID: 55580980400
• Web of Science Researcher ID: C-4850-2013

• Online journalism, Social communication, Design, Journalism and cinema, Social innovation.

• Peña-Fernández, S., Larrondo-Ureta, A., & Agirreazkuenaga-Onaindia, Irati (2024). Mediatised Participation: Citizen Journalism and the Decline in User-Generated Content in Online News Media. Social Sciences, 13, 266.
• Díaz-Noci, J., Peña-Fernández, S., Meso-Ayerdi, K. & Larrondo-Ureta, Ainara (2024). The Influence of AI in the Media Work Force. How Companies Use an Array of Legal Remedies. Tripodos, 55, 33-54.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Larrondo-Ureta, A., & Morales-i-Gras, J. (2023). Feminism, gender identity and polarization in TikTok and Twitter. Comunicar, 75, 47-58.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Meso-Ayerdi, K., Larrondo-Ureta, A., & Díaz-Noci, J. (2023). Without journalists, there is no journalism: the social dimension of generative artificial intelligence in the media. Profesional De La información, 32(2), 1-15.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Larrondo-Ureta, A., & Morales-i-Gras, J. (2022). Current affairs on TikTok. Virality and entertainment for digital natives. Profesional De La información, 31(1).
• Novo-Arbona, A., Peña-Fernández, S., Martínez-Odriozola, L., Jiménez-Martín, E., & Eguskiza-Sesumaga, L. (2022). Media and violence against women in the Basque Country: A self-regulation case study. Feminist Media Studies.
• Peña-Fernández, S., et al. (2021). Online journalism education in the hybrid media system. Bilbao: UPV/EHU. ISBN: 978-84-1319-329-8.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Casado-Del-Río, M. Á., & García-González, D. (2021). From Rigidity to Exuberance: Evolution of News on Online Newspaper Homepages. Future Internet, 13(6):150.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Pérez-Dasilva, J. Á., Meso-Ayerdi, K., & Larrondo-Ureta, A., (2021). Social participation in the media: The dialogue of digital journalists with audiences. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 6(1), 16-28.
• Larrondo-Ureta, A., Peña-Fernández, S., & Morales-i-Gras, J. (2021). Disinformation, vaccines, and Covid-19. Analysis of the infodemic and the digital conversation on Twitter. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 19.
• Castellano-Parra, O., Meso-Ayerdi, K., & Peña-Fernández, S. (2020). Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions. Media and Communication, 8(2), 86-97.
• Barandiaran-Irastorza, X., Unceta-Satrustegui, A., & Peña-Fernández, S. (2020). Political Communication in times of a New Political Culture. Icono 14, 18(1), 256-281.
• Barandiaran-Irastorza, X., Peña-Fernández, S., & Unceta-Satrustegui, A. (2020). The Archipelago of Cultural and Creative Industries: A Case Study of the Basque Country. Economies, 8(1):21.
• Larrondo-Ureta, A., Meso-Ayerdi, K., & Peña-Fernández, S. (2020). Shared Spaces for News Content Production in Spanish Online Media. In: J. Vázquez-Herrero et al. (Ed.), Journalistic Metamorphosis. Media Transformation in the Digital Age (pp. 113-127). Berlín: Springer.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Meso-Ayerdi, K., & Larrondo-Ureta, A. (2020). Active audiences: Empowering citizens’ discourse in the hybrid media system. Madrid: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-84-4862-003-5
• Larrondo-Ureta, A., Peña-Fernández, S., Agirreazkuenaga-Onaindia, I., & Meso-Ayerdi, K. (2020). Comments, What For? User Participation and Quality of the Debate in Four European Newspapers Political J-blogs. Media Watch, 11(2), 247-262.
• Peña-Fernández, S., Larrondo-Ureta, A., & Agirreazkuenaga-Onaindia, I. (2020). Etiquetar el feminismo. Análisis de los cibermedios iberoamericanos. Cuadernos.info, 46, 45-67.
• Larrondo-Ureta, A., Peña-Fernández, S., & Fernandes-Teixeira, J. (2020). Online Journalism Teaching and Learning Processes Beyond the Classroom and the University: Experiences in International Virtual Collaboration on Multimedia Projects. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 76(1), 5-28.

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• Impacto de la inteligencia artificial y los algoritmos en los cibermedios, los profesionales y las audiencias (MR Simón Peña-Fernández & Koldobika Meso-Ayerdi), Ministry of Science and Innovation, 2023-2026.
• Los cibermedios y la comunicación digital en un ecosistema informativo en transformación (MR Simón Peña-Fernández), Ministry of Science and Innovation, 2023-2024.
• Communication, emotions and political action. Strategies to combat disinformation and polarization in the digital public sphere (MR Simón Peña-Fernández & Ainhoa Novo-Arbona), UPV/EHU, 2023-2024.
• Automated counter narratives against misinformation and hate speech for journalists and social media (MR Simón Peña-Fernández), Ministry of Science and Innovation, 2022-2024.
• Gureiker (MR Ainara Larrondo-Ureta)​​​​​​, research group of the Basque University System, 2022-2025.
• Tools for the analysis of parliamentary discourses: polarization, subjectivity and affectivity in the post-truth era (MR Simón Peña-Fernández & Rodrigo Agerri Gascón), UPV/EHU, 2020-2021. 
• AQET - Assessment of Quality of Erasmus Trainerships (MR Josef Vochozka), European Commission – Erasmus +, 2019-2022.
• FORESIGHT - Future Oriented Education for Students Incorporating GSC in High-paced Times (MR Oguz Demir), European Commission – Erasmus +, 2018-2021.
• Noticias, redes y usuarios en el sistema híbrido de medios (MR Simón Peña-Fernández & Koldobika Meso-Ayerdi), Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, 2018-2021.
• Inclusive Futures for Europe BEYOND the impacts of Industrie 4.0 and Digital Disruption (MR Steven Dhont), European Commission – Horizon 2020, 2019-2022.
• Gureiker (MR Ainara Larrondo Ureta & Simón Peña Fernández), research group of the Basque University System, 2016-2021.
• Students 4 Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Academia (MR Ivon Cepeda Mayorga), European Commission, 2016-2019.

• Coordinator of the Master in Social Communication.
• Editor of Mediatika journal (ISSN 1988-3935)
• Dean of the School of Social and Communication Sciences (2013-2021).

• Gureiker (IT1496-22). Consolidated research group (type A) of the Basque university system.
• Research lines:
  • Online media analysis.
  • Impact of the Internet on the media.
  • Audience participation in media content.
  • New journalistic and informative narratives on the Internet.
  • Social media in journalism and corporate communication.