Andreas Ventsel is a Professor of Political and Sociosemiotics in Department of Semiotics at Tartu University, Estonia. He holds an MA degree (University of Tartu, 2005) and a PhD (University of Tartu, 2009) in Semiotics. His research is interdisciplinary including semiotics, discourse theory, international relations, security studies, information influence studies and political analysis. Ventsel has presented the results of his research among other outlets in Media, War & Conflict, European Security, Armed Force & Society, Theory, Culture & Society, Social Semiotics, Semiotica and been the initiator and editor of several scientific journals, both Estonia-based and international. He is the author of the books Strategic Conspiracy Narratives: A Semiotic Approach (Routledge 2021, with Mari-Liis Madisson from the University of Tartu) and Introducing Relational Political Analysis: Political Semiotics as a Theory and Method (Palgrave Macmillan 2021, with Peeter Selg from Tallinn University). Ventsel is a member of International Association for Semiotic Studies, International Association for Visual Semiotics, International Surveillance Studies Network and Estonian Semiotic Society.
Peeter Selg, PhD, is Professor of Governance and Political Analysis in the School of Governance, Law and Society at Tallinn University, Estonia. His main research interests include relational sociology, political semiotics, power, governance, and wicked problems. His work has been published among other outlets in Sociological Theory, PS: Political Science & Politics, Journal of Political Power, International Relations, International Review of Sociology, Social Semiotics, Journal of Language and Politics, Semiotica, and Sign Systems Studies. His recent books are titled Introducing Relational Political Analysis: Political Semiotics as a Theory and Method (Palgrave Macmillan 2021, with Andreas Ventsel, University of Tartu) and A Relational Approach to Governing Wicket Problems: from Governance Failure to Failure Governance (Palgrave Macmillan 2023, with Georg Sootla and Benjamin Klasche from Tallinn University). He is the editor (with Nick Crossley from the University of Manchester) of the book series “Palgrave Studies in Relational Sociology”.