Together with Ana Mijić, sociologist and ViDSS student member Slađana Adamović held a workshop on the topic of identity in the context of war and displacement with 5th grade students in Vienna. Through the OeAD initiative “Science Ambassadors”, cutting-edge research is brought directly into the daily lives of students in schools, kindergartens, and libraries.

Communication scientist and ViDSS Alumna Jaroslava Kaňková was awarded the Abby Prestin Dissertation of the Year Award for her dissertation “With great power comes great responsibility: Misleading health messaging by social media influencers – characteristics, effects, and countering strategies”. Congratulations!

Communication scientists Vanja Bojanic, Diego Garusi, Maryam Khaleghipour, Birte Leonhardt and Daniel Wiesner have received awards for their (co-authored) papers and posters from a variety of divisions and interest groups during the annual conference of the International Communication Association in Cape Town. Congratulations!

Amid fake news, social media, and an information overload, it is becoming increasingly unclear what still counts as journalism today. Together with Folker Hanusch and Phoebe Maares, ViDSS student member Kim Löhmann presents the project “Vom Kern zur Peripherie: Grenzen des Journalismus” which investigated where this line is drawn in the digital age. (In German)

At this year’s Pint of Science Festival, ViDSS student member Elena Engel offered insights into the world of supplement advertising on social media at WerkzeugH in Vienna. Under the title “Between #ad and #health: What influencers say about supplements – and what they leave out”, the interactive session focused on the strategies influencers use to market supplements in particularly persuasive ways.

Together with Markus Wagner and Isabella Rebasso, ViDSS students Alexander Dalheimer and Elena Heinz present the project “Partisan Prejudice”, which analyses political prejudices and their effects. Using quantitative surveys, online experiments, and a field experiment, the team aims to identify patterns of political prejudice and empirically test their effects on interpersonal conflicts.

The Austrian government is planning to reduce the value-added tax on a number of staple foods. As Elias Weiss, ViDSS student in political science, argues, this happens out of a misguided sense of solidarity. While the government is foregoing revenue, thereby suggesting that taxes are to blame for high prices, it would be better to address the high market concentration among supermarkets.

Olga Malashkina and Beate Krapfenbauer shine the spotlight on self-funded PhD candidates who are in full-time employment. Our guest Ricarda Götz-Preisner discusses the challenges she faces, her goals and motivations, and how the skills she has developed in her professional life will help her reach the end of her PhD journey.

Political scientist and ViDSS student Elena Heinz has been awarded a Marietta Blau Grant to support her upcoming research visits to Leiden University and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her doctoral research addresses the political consequences of partisan prejudice. The grant offers financial support for study periods abroad lasting between six and twelve months. Congratulations!