Tjeerd Royaards
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Tjeerd Royaards is a Dutch editorial cartoonist and Editor-in-Chief of Cartoon Movement, a global platform for editorial cartoons and comics journalism. He is also on the Board of Advisors of Cartoonists Rights Network International and a member of Cartooning for Peace. He has worked as a cartoonist since 2005, ever since getting a master's degree in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. He has worked for Dutch newspaper NRC between 2018 and 2020 and currently works for Dutch newspaper Trouw. Internationally, his work has been published by The Washington Post, The New York Times, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, Le Monde, Courrier International, France 24, Internazionale, Politico Europe, and many others.
Tjeerd Royaards the Paris IAS in September-October 2025 for a group research stay as part of the CAT collaborative program, in collaboration with the researchers Vicky Breemen, Andrew Bricker, Alberto Godioli and Ana Pedrazzini.
Research topics
Humor; satire; democracy; free speech.
Cartoons in Court: Towards a Forensic Analysis of Visual Humor
Due to its ambiguity and elusive nature, humour can make it particularly difficult to distinguish between lawful and unlawful expression. This is particularly evident in the case of cartoons or other comparable forms of primarily visual humour (such as memes), whose high degree of implicitness and condensation creates specific interpretative challenges. How can judges deal with the ambiguity of visual humour, i.e. the fact that the same cartoon or meme can be interpreted in different ways by different people? And to what extent can the author/cartoonist be held responsible for the different (reasonable) interpretations? Drawing on knowledge from both law and the humanities, this research project aims to facilitate a fair and consistent approach to visual humour in case law relating to freedom of expression.
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