Short Interview with Prof. Dr. Emilija Gagrčin

On March 18, 2026, ZeMKI welcomed Prof. Dr. Emilija Gagrčin as a new member. In a short interview, Emilija Gagrčin outlined her academic career, shared her thoughts on ZeMKI and Bremen, and elaborated on her research focus, “Media Societies and the Good Life.”

About Emilija Gagrčin

Emilija Gagrčin is Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies with a focus on Media, Society and the Good Life at the University of Bremen. Her research explores how people experience, interpret, and collectively negotiate their relationship to society in the context of multiple crises, and what role media play in this process. Central to her work is examination of social, normative, and infrastructural conditions these shape this relationship, and how these relate to citizens’ political participation. 

Interview

Could you first describe your academic background in communication and media studies?

I’ve always been interested in how people live together and how to build community. In school, I was a student council president and helped found the regional school parliament union in Vojvodina, Serbia. My goal was always to get as many people as possible on board and inspire them to support such initiatives. At the same time, I’m one of the younger millennials who grew up with the internet and witnessed its rapid development firsthand. So it was only natural that I would eventually do something related to education, information, and media; that’s exactly what my career guidance counselor in high school predicted for me back then.

That’s how I ended up studying journalism and communication science in Berlin. The beginning was a bit bumpy, though: Not only was I studying in a foreign language, but everything revolved around a media system that was almost completely foreign to me. It took a while before I really understood what the field was about and what it could be about. The moment it became clear how I could empirically research communication phenomena myself was the point at which the subject started to become really fun. I’m all the more delighted that I’ll be taking over the Qualitative Methods module from now on.

After finishing my master’s degree, I didn’t feel like staying at the university at first, so I took a completely different path for a few years. Among other things, I worked in a student support program where we provided career guidance and college preparation for young people from non-academic families. Ironically, through the recurring career guidance sessions for the students, I realized myself that I actually wanted to do something else. That’s how I eventually returned to scientific research. I completed my Ph.D. in the Digital Citizenship research group at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, where I was able to deepen my interest in political participation and digital media. Afterward, I worked as a postdoc in Mannheim and most recently at the University of Bergen in Norway—both positions where I was able to further develop this area of focus.

Your research focuses on “media society and the good life.” Could you explain what is meant by “media societies” and “the good life”?

A media society is a society so deeply permeated by media that it could not exist in its current form without them. The way we obtain information, maintain relationships, participate in politics, and so on—all of this is now mediated and shaped by the media. When I speak of the “good life,” I am not concerned with defining or prescribing what a good life is. At the same time, we know from happiness research, for example, that individual well-being depends heavily on the quality of social relationships and institutions: on friendships, trust in the neighborhood, and the feeling of being part of a community. And it is precisely these social relationships and institutions that are deeply mediatized today. Media shape how we imagine community, how we experience belonging, and also which life paths we find desirable. What interests me most, however, is the role of media in social participation. Through media, people can develop a sense of autonomy and self-efficacy, for example, when they organize themselves in an online community or make their political voices heard via social media. I am researching under what conditions this succeeds and under what conditions it does not.

What convinced you, both professionally and personally, about Bremen and the ZeMKI?

In the field of German communication studies, which tends to be quantitatively oriented, ZeMKI is truly a unique place. The people working here have contributed to innovations in the field both theoretically and methodologically. For me, as someone who focuses on qualitative and mixed-methods approaches, this is the perfect environment. In Bremen, they demonstrate how qualitative methods can be used to advance theoretical work. On top of that, the ZeMKI is always at the cutting edge—and sometimes even ahead of its time—and I want to learn from that and be a part of it.

How do you plan to collaborate with the labs and your colleagues at ZeMKI, and what particularly appeals to you about this setup?

I’d like to get involved in existing initiatives and learn from and with my colleagues and students. Then we’ll see how things develop.