Michelle Bouw

Biography

Michelle Bouw obtained a Master’s degree in Linguistics and Communication Sciences at Tilburg University in 2025. For her master’s thesis, she studied how kidfluencer marketing can shape children's healthy eating habits through experimental studies in primary school. During her master’s programme, she completed a two-month research internship at CEPEC, where she contributed to the SUNRISE project by conducting interviews with education experts. In December 2025, Michelle started working as a scientific employee, contributing to the GAMSPON-project and an intervention study on fitfluencers and adolescents.

In September 2026, Michelle started as a PhD researcher. Her PhD is part of the KIDFLUENCER project and involves a longitudinal ethnographic study on the production of child-appealing (kid)influencer content. Through this study, she aims to understand how influencer content that is popular among children on social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok is created, focusing on kidfluencers, family influencers, and adult influencers.