Doctoral Projects

How do visions of the future shape social change — and how do they affect collective identities in times of multiple crises? This dissertation examines competing visions for a time after a possible societal collapse and analyzes how different actors — from social movements to state institutions — use future scenarios to create orientation, capacity (…)

This doctoral project investigates how interpretable machine learning can advance communication science — from the transparent identification of protest-related news and the recognition of AI-generated images to the analysis of political TikTok communication in the 2024 European election campaign. Machine learning is increasingly being used in communication studies, especially for tasks that previously could only (…)

How do data-based algorithmic systems affect people who are particularly vulnerable — and what forms of injustice can arise as a result? From a legal philosophy perspective, this dissertation examines how government AI applications in areas such as education, social welfare, asylum, and law enforcement can create individual disadvantages. The focus is on bias typologies, (…)

According to the 2018 LEO study, 6.2 million German-speaking adults in Germany have significant problems with reading and writing. The 2023 PIAAC study also reveals deficits in everyday mathematical competences. Those affected can attend literacy and numeracy courses at adult education centers. But in 2021 there were only around 13,400 enrollments in such courses. Supporting (…)

How is the digital platform society changing our perception of climate change — and who is shaping public knowledge about it today? This dissertation examines how visual communication practices, new groups of actors, and the use of generative AI are transforming climate communication on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. It shows how visibility, authority, and trust (…)

This dissertation project uses sociological discourse analysis to examine how the RKK draws organizational boundaries, communicates these both internally and externally, and what consequences this has for the institution’s relationship with its members. The focus is on the public communicative positioning of actors within the RKK who operate at various organizational levels.

Given the growing religious, cultural, and linguistic diversity in learning groups—which presents the challenge of addressing learners’ varying backgrounds and needs in the classroom—the search for innovative teaching approaches in religious education is becoming increasingly important. Numerous studies show that the use of escape rooms in an educational context can increase learners’ motivation to learn and perform. However, the specific language-building design of such formats in religious education has hardly been researched to date.

The discourse on the future of AI is currently dominated by commercial systems, profitable use cases, and promises of economic growth driven by Big Tech. Various actors from the non-profit sector and beyond regard this dominance of commercial AI as a threat to the social fabric: systems such as ChatGPT or Grok are criticized for their at times problematic response behavior, while companies like OpenAI, xAI, and Palantir are accused of collaborating with authoritarian regimes and subverting democratic institutions.