My name is Noel Castro Fernández (Lugo, 1995), and I’m a predoctoral FPU researcher in the Department of Sociology and Communication Sciences at the University of A Coruña. I hold a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Carlos III University of Madrid and earned a master’s degree in Visual Communication and Interactive Design from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2022, along with a postgraduate certificate in Digital Humanities. From 2020 to 2022, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue further university studies. I’m currently working on my PhD thesis, which explores the role of digital technologies in shaping socio-spatial imaginaries in Galicia.
My research interests include the sociology of culture, digital narratives, multimodal anthropology, cultural studies, cultural geography, digital geography, communication, and new technologies.
Before joining academia, I developed a career in the fields of environmental and cultural communication, education, and cultural management. In 2022–23, I was part of the working team for the project Plantando Cara al Fuego (FECYT, 2022) at the University of Santiago de Compostela. I’ve also worked as a cultural and environmental journalist (Agencia EFE, El Progreso, Radio Lugo, Forest Stewardship Council) and have contributed to cultural management projects at the Cineteca of Madrid and the experimental film festival Cosmic Rays, as well as to heritage digitization efforts in the Department of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina, among other institutions.
Alongside my academic work, I also create visual and multimedia art that explores the relationship between image and territory. This practice has led me to be selected to participate in events and institutions such as the Intersección Festival (A Coruña), the North Carolina Digital Humanities Institute (USA), the Suburbinale Festival (Vienna), and the Science and Technology Hub 2025 at Humboldt University (Berlin).