Successful dissertation colloquium by ZeMKI member Patrick Zerrer

On September 11, 2024, ZeMKI member Patrick Zerrer successfully completed his doctoral colloquium – congratulations! The title of the dissertation is “Political action and news use of the Fridays for Future Movement in Germany” and deals with the political news use of Fridays for Future supporters using the latest smartphone tracking methods. Patrick Zerrer combined an elaborate research design with innovative data collection methods that open up new possibilities for investigating small-scale usage behavior on smartphones, such as reading political posts on social media or political conversations via WhatsApp, without violating the privacy of the participants. The data collected in this way provides a comprehensive picture of how young and politically active people use information in a digital and mobile media environment.

The commission of the dissertation colloquium consisted of: 

• Anna Sophie Kümpel – TU Dresden (reviewer)
• Stephanie Geise – ZeKMI (reviewer)
• Yannis Theocharis – TU Munich (reviewer)
• Christian Schwarzenegger – ZeMKI (reviewer)
• Cornelius Puschmann – ZeMKI (reviewer)
• Hendrik Kühn – non-voting member
• Vasilisa Kuznetsova – non-voting member