Early-career researchers: Mediencampus

Early-career researchers

Symbolbild: Graduiertenhut wird in die Höhe gehalten

Our PhD students conduct research on a wide variety of topics within communication and media studies – ranging from digital media phenomena and social communication processes to innovative media technologies. The range of current PhD projects extends from strategic communication and the digitisation of cultural heritage, through digital immersive technologies in screenplay development, to the future of sustainable gaming.

In doing so, they benefit from our institute’s interdisciplinary approach and close supervision by experienced researchers, who support them in developing innovative research approaches that are both theoretically sound and socially relevant.

Doctoral theses

doctoral thesis

Digitisation of cultural heritage

Private letters as a marginalised cultural asset caught between the FAIR, CARE and Open principles

doctoral thesis

Making Meaning, Making Change.

examines the role of strategic communication in processes of social transformation.

doctoral thesis

Journalistic autonomy on platforms

A study on the influence of recommendation systems on editorial decisions in climate journalism

Our PhD students

Felix Eicher

Paul Heß

Lecturer & scholarship holder (doctoral preparation) at the Doctoral Centre for Sustainability Sciences at Darmstadt University of Applied...

Sciences. Topics: AI, communication and sustainability at the interface between technology and people.

Vanessa Kokoschka

Research assistant and lecturer

Anna Kuschezki

Anna Sophie Kuschezki is a research assistant at the Institute for Communication and Media (ikum) at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences...

and a lecturer in the Online Journalism programme. Since 2025, she has been pursuing a cooperative doctorate at the junior professorship "Digital Economies" in the Media Management department at the Bauhaus University Weimar.

Lukas Materzok

Nadine Probol

Lara Pujol

Lara Pujol is a doctoral candidate whose research focuses on transformative learning at universities. She teaches in the online communication...

programme and works as a project assistant at the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Zukunftskultur, where she supports companies in developing sustainable corporate cultures.

Debby Trzeciak

Research assistant and lecturer in the Information Science programme, cooperative doctoral programme at the Institute of Linguistics and...

Literary Studies at TU Darmstadt