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Curriculum Vitae

Professional positions

Since 04/2011 Professor for communication and media studies at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf
05/2007 - 03/2011 Professor for communication and media studies at the University Augsburg
04/2006 - 04/2007 Visiting professor for communication and media studies at the University Augsburg
10/2002 - 03/2006 Senior researcher at the Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research Hamburg
03/2001 - 09/2002 Habilitation grant by the German Research Foundation for research conducted at the Social Science Center Berlin and at the University of Southern California, San Diego, USA 1/2002-3/2002.
01/1996 - 12/2000 Senior researcher at the Social Science Center Berlin, Department Public Sphere and Social Movements.
10/1990 - 12/1995 Researcher at the Institute of Communication Munich
01/1990 - 05/1991 Researcher at the German Institute for Youth-Research Munich, Department Youth and Politics

Academic degrees

05/2006 Habilitation at the Free University Berlin
02/1996 Dr. Phil. at the Ludwig-Maximilians- University Munich
02/1989 Master degree in communication and media studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians- University Munich

Fellowships

02/2015 - 05/2015 Visiting Professor at the Institute for Communication Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland
05/2010 - 07/2010 Fellow at the research college „The Transformative Power of Europe“ at the Free University Berlin
12/2009 - 01/2010 Visiting Professor Hacettepe Universität in Ankara, Turkey
01/2002 - 03/2002 Research semester at the University of Southern California in San Diego, USA

Positions at the university and in professional associations

Since 2019 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Democracy at the Cologne University
Since 2019 Chairwoman of the Advisory Board of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society - The German Internet Institute
Since 2018 Director of the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy
Since 2019 Speaker of the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy
Since 2016 Member of the Reviewing Board for Social Sciences in the German Science Foundation
Since 2012 Co-Editor of the German Journal “Publizistik”
Since 2012 Member in the scientific board of the German Central office for political education
Since 2012 Member of the board of the post-graduate program „Linkages in Democracy“
Since 2011 Member of the board of the Global Media Journal Germany
2008-2013 Member of the Commission for Accreditation of the AQAS agency
2010-2011 Dean for student affairs at the Faculty for Philosophy and Social Sciences of the University of Augsburg
2009-2011 Member of the faculty council of the Faculty for Philosophy and Social Sciences of the University of Augsburg
2006-2008 Speaker of the section “Political Communication ” of the German Association for Communication Studies
2002-2006 Vice-Speaker of the section „Political Communication“of the German Association for Communication Studies
2002-2006 Member of the editoral board of the German Journal “Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft”

Research profile

  • Public sphere theory, media as political actors
  • Spiral of Silence Theory, perception of public opinion
  • Online deliberation, online-debates
  • Media accountability and critique
  • European public sphere, European identity
  • Politics in entertainment formats
  • News values in news selection and information processing
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