Visiting Professors

Prof. Dr. Jakob Ohme (Fall Semester 2024)
is the head of the research group "Dynamics of Digital News Distribution" at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin, Vice Chair of the "Political Communication" section of ECREA,  and a fellow at the "Digital Communication Methods Lab" at the University of Amsterdam.

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Klinger (Spring Semester 2024)
is Professor for Digital Democracy at the European New School of Digital Studies at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), and Associated Researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin.
Column (PDF, 124 KB)

Prof. Dr. Axel Bruns (Fall Semester 2022)
is Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor of Media and Communication in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. Column (PDF, 159 KB)

Prof. Dr. Bruno Takahashi (Fall Semester 2019)
is Associate Professor of Environmental Journalism and Communication at Michigan State University (USA) and Director of the Knight Center in Environmental Journalism. He is also speaker of the Environmental Communication Division of the International Communication Association (ICA). Column (PDF, 73 KB)

Prof. Dr. Sylvia Chan-Olmsted (Fall Semester 2019)
is professor at the Department of Telecommunication and director of Media Consumer Research at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida (USA). Her research expertise includes digital/mobile media consumption, branding, and strategic competition in the media industry. Column (PDF, 75 KB)

Prof. Dr. Olaf Jandura (Spring 2018/Fall 2018)
is professor for Media Studies and Communication Science focusing on Empirical Research Methods at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. His main research interests are political communication, media use and media change.
 

Prof. Dr. Christoph Neuberger (Spring Semester 2018)
lectures in journalism and communication studies at the Free University of Berlin. At the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, he is Director, Scientific Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the research group Digital News Dynamics.Column (PDF, 23 KB)

Prof. Dr. Lea Hellmüller (Fall Semester 2017)
is Assistant Professor at the University of Houston, where she is involved in the establishment of a global media research center. In parallel to this, she is co-head of a network consisting 25 countries that researches the influence of journalistic attitudes towards the production of news content. Column (PDF, 45 KB)

Prof. Dr. James Painter (Fall Semester 2017)
is a senior researcher at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at Oxford University and was the Director of the Journalism Fellowship Program of the RISJ during the past eight years. Mr. Painter is involved in the creation of reports concerning global climate change and environmental problems. Column (PDF, 45 KB)

Prof. Dr. Dorothee Arlt (Spring Semester 2017)
works at the University of Berne’s Institute of Communication and Media Studies. Her research work relates to the content and the reception and effect of media communication, with a focus on politics, energy and climate change.
 

Prof. Dr. Elad Segev (Fall Semester 2016)
is Associate Professor of the Department of Communication at Tel Aviv University. He researches and teaches on culture and national identity, Americanization and globalization, international news, search engines and search strategies, the digital divide as well as network analysis and data mining. Column (PDF, 426 KB)

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Wessler (Spring Semester 2016)
is professor at the University of Mannheim’s Institute for Media and Communication Studies. The main focuses of his research lie in the areas of political communication, transnational communication and the analysis of classical and new forms of the public sphere. Column (PDF, 86 KB)

Prof. Dr. Jolanta Drzewiecka (Fall Semester 2015)
is Senior Assistant Professor and Chair of Intercultural Communication at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano. She researches the media construction, representation and defining of ethnic, national and cultural identities, including those of migrants. Column (PDF, 52 KB)

Dr. Thomas Zerback (Fall 2015/Spring 2016)
is Academic Councilor at the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. The main areas of his research predominantly lie in the areas of media reality, media use and media effects. Column (PDF, 86 KB)

Prof. Dr. Christiane Eilders (Spring Semester 2015)
is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Düsseldorf University. She conducts research in the areas of political communication and the European public sphere. She has recently specifically dedicated herself to the issue of the participation with new media such as blogs or social networks. Column (PDF, 180 KB)

Dr. Kati Förster (Fall Semester 2014)
was a Research Assistant (post-doc) at the Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna, where she concentrated on media brand management, brand perception, brand communities and social media marketing, in particular. Column (PDF, 117 KB)

Prof. Dr. Helmut Scherer (Spring Semester 2014)
is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. His research interests lie in the areas of reception research, research on the impact of the media, political communication, the public sphere and public opinion. Column (PDF, 373 KB)

Prof. Dr. Constanze Rossmann (Fall Semester 2013)
is Professor of Communication Studies, with a focus on social communication, at the University of Erfurt. The most important focus of her research is the area of health communication.
Column (PDF, 22 KB)

Prof. Dr. David Nicolas Hopmann (Fall Semester 2012)
is Associate Professor of Media and Politics at the Center for Journalism at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. His work deals with the production, content and effects of political media reporting.
Column (PDF, 10 KB)

Prof. Dr. Johannes M. Bauer (Spring Semester 2011)
is Professor at the Department of Media & Information at Michigan State University. The main focuses of his research are the governance of the information and communications industry, the comparative and international telecommunications research and the economics of information and communication. Column (PDF, 35 KB)

Prof. Dr. Jesper Strömbäck (Fall Semester 2011)
is Professor of Journalism at the Department of Media and Communication at the Mid-Sweden University. His main subject areas are focused on political news journalism and election campaign reporting, political marketing, the conducting of campaigns and political public relations. Column (PDF, 13 KB)

Prof. Dr. Tilo Hartmann (Spring Semester 2011)
is a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences at the VU University of Amsterdam. His teaching and research focuses on reception and impact research, media selection research as well as mass communication research, methodological training and data analysis. Column (PDF, 16 KB)

Prof. Dr. Andreas Fahr (Fall Semester 2010)
is Professor of Empirical Communication Research at the University of Fribourg. The main focuses of his teaching and research lie in reception and impact research, media psychology, research on the impact of advertising, quantitative empirical methods and data analysis. Column (PDF, 12 KB)

Prof. Dr. Marcus Maurer (Fall 2009/Spring 2010)
is Professor of Communication Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz His main research focuses include: political communication, research on the impact of media, non-verbal communication and empirical methodologies.
Column (PDF, 60 KB)

Dr. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz (Spring 2008/ Fall 2009)
is Professor of Communication and Media Studies, with a focus on media change, at the University of Bremen’s Center for Media, Communication and Information Research. She deals with issues regarding communication sociology and media history. Column (PDF, 30 KB)

Prof. Dr. Christian Steininger (Spring Semester 2009)
is an external lecturer at the University of Vienna’s Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies. The main focuses of his research and teaching lie in the areas of media and communication theories, media economics and the political economics of the media. Column (PDF, 30 KB)

Prof. Dr. Lars Willnat (Fall Semester 2008)
is Professor at Syracuse University. His areas of expertise include his cross-disciplinary knowledge of empirical methods as well as his broad knowledge of the theories present in international and intercultural comparative communications research. Column (PDF, 16 KB)

Dr. rer. pol. Frank Habann (Spring Semester 2008)
has held the post of Professor of Media Economics at the Offenburg University of Applied Sciences since the 2010/11 winter semester. Mr. Habann possesses many years of research experience as well as advisory expertise in the areas of macroeconomics and media management. Column (PDF, 16 KB)

Prof. Dr. Claes de Vreese (Fall Semester 2007)
runs the Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR) at the University of Amsterdam. He researches political journalism, election campaigns as well as the content and effects of new media on the opinions and behavior of the population. Column (PDF, 50 KB)

Prof. Dr. Dirk Tänzler (Spring Semester 2007)
is involved in research and teaching, primarily in the area of political sociology – especially in regard to the relationship between politics and the media. In 2004, he qualified as a professor at the University of Konztanz with the general sociological work “Theatrokratie. Zur Kritik der politischen Ästhetik” (venia legendi).

Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (Summer Semester 2006)
is the Chair of Journalism Studies II at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. He conducts research in the areas of journalism (communication research), media economics, media management, public relations and organizational communication. Column (PDF, 34 KB)

Prof. Dr. Kurt Luger (Winter Semester 2005/2006)
is Professor of Transcultural Communication at the University of Salzburg’s Department of Communication Studies. As a specialist in inter/transcultural communication and issues concerning development communication, he already held various guest professorships. Column (PDF, 17 KB)

Prof. Dr. Michael Latzer (Winter Semester 2004/2005)
has been Professor of Communication Studies and Head of the “Media Change and Innovation” division at the IKMZ since 2008. His research work focuses on the European information society, political economics, regulation theory and digital economics. Column (PDF, 36 KB)

Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Stiehler (Summer Semester 2004)
was appointed Professor of Empirical Communication and Media Research at the University of Leipzig in 1993 (emeritus since the summer semester 2017). Mr. Stiehler researches, among other issues, the topic of media reception.
Column (PDF, 35 KB)

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Renger (Winter Semester 2003/2004)
is Professor of Communication Studies and Head of the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of Salzburg since 2010. The main focuses of Mr. Renger’s teaching and research are theories and methods, communicator research, intercultural communication, media and popular culture. Column (PDF, 34 KB)

PD Dr. Jutta Röser (Summer Semester 2003)
has been Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Münster since the summer semester in 2012. Ms. Röser possesses extensive teaching and research experience, particularly in research concerning reception, media violence and gender. Column (PDF, 33 KB)

Prof. Dr. Günter Bentele (Winter Semester 2002/2003)
was Professor of Public Relations at the University of Leipzig’s Institute of Communication and Media Studies. The main focuses of his research were communication theory, semiotics, media language, media usage research and organizational communication/public relations. Column (PDF, 55 KB)

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sarcinelli (Summer Semester 2002)
was (full) Professor of Politics and Communication at the University of Koblenz & Landau and Director of the Frank Loeb Institute. His main areas of research and publications include: political communication research, political theory/democracy theory, political culture and the impartation of policies. Column (PDF, 35 KB)

Prof. Dr. Hannes Haas † (Winter Semester 2001/2002)
was Professor of Mass Communication and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna. The core of his research work and publications consisted of: issues regarding media history and communication history, journalism/communicator research, media theory, PR and communication prognosis. Column (PDF, 30 KB)

Dr. Rudolf Stöber (Winter Semester 2000/2001)
has held the Chair of Communication Studies at the Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg since April 2002. Mr. Stöber has continually conducted research in the areas of new media, communication and social change, the theory and history of the public sphere and public opinion and political communication, in particular. 

Prof. Dr. Stefan Müller-Doohm (Summer Semester 2000)
has taught sociology, with a focus on interaction theories and communication theories, at the University of Oldenburg since the winter semester of 1974. The main areas of his research are: sociological theories/society theory, communication research/media theory/cultural sociology and intellectual sociology.

PD Dr. Frank Marcinkowski (Winter 2003/04 - Fall 2007)
has been teaching and researching at the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf’s Social Sciences Institute since 2017. The main focuses of his research include: communication, media and public theories, political communication, media content as well as the societal consequences of the development of the media.

PD Dr. Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck (Summer Semester 2002)
holds the Chair of Political Science I – Political Sociology at the University of Mannheim since 2008. Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck researches highly diverse facets of voter behavior and political communication.