Quirin Ryffel has been a research assistant and PhD student at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich (IKMZ) since February 2023. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Science and Media Research with a minor in Political Science and a specialized master’s degree in Political Communication and Governance, both from the University of Zurich.

In his dissertation project, Quirin is investigating the antecedents and effects of perceived exposure to diverse political viewpoints in Spain, Germany, and the United States in the context of climate change mitigation. The four-year project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Furthermore, he is investigating issue-specific polarization in the context of climate protection in Germany.

•    Behavioral and attitudinal effects of political information behavior
•    Perceived political viewpoint diversity exposure, perceived freedom of expression
•    Different aspects of media diversity (structure, content, exposure, and perception)
•    Issue-specific (perceived) polarization 
•    Climate change mitigation and immigration policies

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

Zerback, T., & Ryffel, Q. (2024). Attitude extremity and perceived argument diversity exposure in the COVID-19 debate. Studies in Communication and Media, 13(2), 214–237. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2024-2-214

Vogler, D., Weston, M., Ryffel, Q., Rauchfleisch, A., Jürgens, P., Eisenegger, M., Schwaiger, L., & Christen, U. (2023). Mobile News Consumption and Its Relation to Young Adults’ Knowledge About and Participation in Referendums. Media and Communication, 11(1), 6–18.  https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i1.6029

Articles in edited books

Vogler, D., Eisenegger, M., Fürst, S., Udris, L., Ryffel, Q., Rivière, M., & Schäfer, M. S. (2023). Künstliche Intelligenz in der journalistischen Nachrichtenproduktion: Wahrnehmung und Akzeptanz in der Schweizer Bevölkerung. In fög – Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft (Ed.), Jahrbuch Qualität der Medien 2023. Schwabe Verlag. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-235608

Vogler, D., Weston, M., Ryffel, Q., Rauchfleisch, A., Jürgens, P., Eisenegger, M., Schwaiger, L., & Christen, U. (2022). ‪Mobile Mediennutzung und politisches Wissen von jungen Erwachsenen. In fög – Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft (Ed.), Jahrbuch Qualität der Medien 2022. Schwabe Verlag.https://doi.org/10.24894/978-3-7965-4646-4

Position papers

Ryffel, Q., Marschlich, S., Fürst, S., & Thai, S. (2022). From precarious conditions to permanent positions? Problems, responsible actors, and solutions for strengthening the academic mid-level staff in Switzerland. Studies in Communication Sciences, 22(3), 575–582. https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2022.03.3936

Conference presentations

Ryffel, Q. (2023, May). Setting the scene for research on political viewpoint diversity exposure: A scoping review on theoretical conceptualizations and empirical evidence. 73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. Political Communication PhD Student Preconference, Toronto, Canada.

Weston, M., Eisenegger, M., Jürgens, P., Rauchfleisch, A., Ryffel, Q., & Vogler, D. (2023, May). Situational and temporal media use and avoidance as seen through mobile tracking data. 73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Toronto, Canada (presented by Morley Weston).

Organization of conference panels

Marschlich, S., Fürst, S., Ryffel, Q. & Thai, S. M. (2022, April). Mittelbau: Schaffung entfristeter Stellen in der Wissenschaft. SGKM-Jahrestagung The Visual and Audiovisual Turn in the Age of Screen Media. Zürich