Start of a very international semester with many guests at ZeMKI

On September 22, 2025, the winter semester had already begun for international students at the University of Bremen. The starting signal was the Welcome Breakfast, to which the International Office invited students to the cafeteria. Approximately 120 exchange students from Erasmus partner countries and partner universities in Asia, Africa, and North and South America participated. The event featured presentations not only on the services offered by the International Office and the departmental coordinators, but also on the programs offered by the Goethe Institute and the University Language Center, the Erasmus Initiative, and Senior Citizens, a group of dedicated citizens who support visiting students during their stay in Bremen (dealing with authorities, finding accommodation, game nights, excursions, visits to the Weser Stadium, etc.).

We are delighted that ZeMKI also has an exceptionally large number of international guests this winter semester. In addition to eight Erasmus students from Spain and France, Seonmyeong Lee from Myongji University in South Korea (BA) and David Chagay Leiva from PUCV Valparaíso in Chile (MA) are pursuing their studies in communication and media sciences in Bremen this winter. We also have numerous Erasmus interns who are completing a research stay at ZeMKI: Guofei Gao from Shanghai (People’s Republic of China) is a guest at Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach’s Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Lab. Benedetta Ciampoli from Milan is studying with Prof. Dr. Giovanna Mascheroni at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and is working on a project on mediatized radicalization. She is attending courses with Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Prof. Dr. Christian Schwarzenegger, Prof. Dr. Cornelius Puschmann, Sandra Kero, and Nieki Samar. Vish Padinjaredath Suresh from Queensland University of Technology (Australia) will be a guest PhD candidate in Prof. Dr. Cornelius Puschmann’s Digital Communication and Information Diversity Lab.

ZeMKI also welcomes Dr. Berber Hagedoorn from the University of Groningen, Prof. Dr. Andrea L. Guzman from Northern Illinois University (USA), and Prof. Dr. Lissa Holloway-Attaway from the University of Skövde as guests. Prof. Dr. Nathan Schneider (University of Colorado Boulder, USA), Dr. Johannes Bennke (Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf), Prof. Dr. Taina Bucher (University of Oslo), Prof. Dr. Simone Natale (University of Turin), and Prof. Dr. Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths, University of London) will be guest speakers at the ComAI Lectures.

Another highlight of the winter semester with numerous international guests is the ZeMKI anniversary conference, which will take place from October 22 to 24, 2025, at the Forum am Domshof & Haus der Wissenschaft Bremen: “20 Years into the Future: What is our Vision of Media, Data, and Society?”.