07.06.2021IKMZ People: New Members and New Positions

Sara Hitchman

Sara Hitchman joined IKMZ in April 2021 as a post-doctoral researcher in Thomas Friemel’s “Media use and Effects” group. She will be working on the Covid-Norms project, with Thomas Friemel and Sarah Geber. From September 2013 to March 2021 she worked as a Lecturer, and then Senior Lecturer at King’s College London, UK in the Addictions Department, where she currently holds a Visiting Senior Lecturer position. She earned her PhD in Psychology from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her work to date has focused on tobacco control and e-cigarettes. Sara’s past research and policy projects have been funded by CIHR (Canada), NIH (US), NIHR(UK), EU Horizon 2020, Cancer Research UK, and the British Heart Foundation. She has worked with organisations including Cancer Research UK, World Heart Federation, and the World Health Organization on projects and policy reports. She has also served and is serving as a consultant on projects related to tobacco control at the European level. Her most recent research has focused on cigarette packaging regulations, health warnings on e-cigarettes, and e-cigarette advertising.

We warmly welcome Sara Hitchman as new member of the IKMZ team!

Morley Weston

Morley Weston joined IKMZ in May 2021 as a research assistant and PhD student in the Public Sphere & Society division under Prof. Dr. Mark Eisenegger.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University at Buffalo and a master’s degree in geography from National Taiwan University, where he most recently worked as a research assistant in the Graduate Institute of Journalism. He previously worked as a reporter and newspaper editor in Myanmar and Taiwan. Morley’s current research interests include computational methods, digital media repertoires, and spatial analysis of news media.

We warmly welcome Morley Weston as new member of the IKMZ team!

Ingrid Oliva

Ingrid Oliva joined IKMZ in May 2021 as a research assistant and PhD student in the division of Strategic Communications and Media Management with Prof. Dr. Nadine Strauß. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Strauß, and using an interdisciplinary approach (strategic communications and finance), she will be researching the effects of media and communications on sustainable finance, the media’s efforts to make it mainstream and its effect on investor’s decision making processes. Ingrid holds a BSc. in Marketing, a BSc.in Finance from Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana in Honduras, and a MSc. in Business and Economics from the University of Basel. In her Master’s thesis she researched the announcement effects of news articles and social media tweets on exchange rates by the U.S.-China trade war.

We warmly welcome Ingrid Oliva as new member of the IKMZ team!

Lisa Schwaiger

Lisa Schwaiger ist seit Februar 2021 als Postdoc in der Abteilung Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft von Prof. Mark Eisenegger tätig, wo sie bereits seit Februar 2018 als Assistentin beschäftigt war. Ihre aktuellen Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen in den Bereichen Religion und Medien, digitale Öffentlichkeiten und qualitative Methoden.  

Jaelle Fuchs

Since February 2021, Jaelle Fuchs has been part of the “Internet Use and Society” division under Prof. Dr. Eszter Hargittai as research and teaching assistant. She first joined the division in July 2018 as a research assistant while pursuing her BA and MA at the IKMZ. Her Bachelor’s degree is in Media and Communication Science with minors in Political Science and Philosophy of Religion, and for the Master’s, she pursued the Internet & Society MA program. Her research interests include online participation and digital inequality. 

Lara Kobilke

Seit dem 01.05.2021 verstärkt Lara Kobilke das Team der Abteilung "International vergleichende Medienforschung" in Forschung und Lehre. Zuvor hat sie in der Abteilung "Politische Kommunikation" am DFG-geförderten Projekt "Ursachen und Folgen der Wahrnehmung öffentlicher Meinung in Zeiten sozialer Medien" mitgearbeitet und ihre Promotion begonnen. Nachdem das Projekt im April 2021 seinen Abschluss gefunden hat, ermöglicht der Abteilungswechsel die Finalisierung ihrer Dissertationsschrift.