Teke Ngomba is a twenty nine-year-old PhD student thousands of kilometres away from his home country Cameroon doing research on the state of journalism in his Central African homeland.

Teke Ngomba came to Aarhus University from Cameroon in 2006 as part of the Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree programme Journalism, Media and Globalisation. In connection with this degree programme, he had to study in three European countries, and Denmark was the one he fell in love with. When he was looking for somewhere to do his PhD, he therefore primarily looked at Aarhus, he explains.
“As an international student looking from the outside, there are a number of things about Denmark that really impressed me. First of all, I’m really enthusiastic about the considerab­le freedom of research and the incentive to pursue your own ideas and develop a critical perspective on established truths. It’s also very important that a strong network of experienced researchers is present. Along with the administrative staff, they make great efforts to make your stay as comfortable and rewarding as possible,” says Teke Ngomba.

Journalism is essential

Teke Ngomba was given the opportunity he was hoping for to return to Aarhus to write his PhD dissertation – a project he has now nearly completed. Although he has now been working at Aarhus University in Denmark on a day-to-day basis for several years, his home country Cameroon 6,000 kilometres away is still the focus of his research, which investigates how political parties in modern Cameroon communicate to and with their voters in political campaigns, and how this communication has changed in the last twenty years.
In addition to the research connected with his PhD project, Teke Ngomba has studied how journalism is practised in Cameroon. He explains that it is also important for researchers to be aware of journalistic methods. Especially in a country like Cameroon.
“We’re still establishing a stable pattern for the country’s future social and economic development. And in this work, journalism plays an extremely crucial role. It can either be a positive factor that steers the country in the right direction, or it can be negative and hamper and delay the necessary changes,” he explains.