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