Third-Party Projects

Here you will find descriptions and information about the current projects of the Institute of Communication Science, which are funded by third-party funds. You can also find out more about our numerous practical projects with different practice partners here.

Completed projects can be found here.

Click on a project title to go to the respective project description and information:

The Junior Research Group Communicating Scientists: Challenges, Competencies, Context (fourC) aims to unite research and practice on “communicating scientists”. We will investigate researchers’ roles and institutional contexts in science communication and their public engagement. One central aim of our JRG is to develop and implement an evidence-based training for early career scientists to become effective communicators of science in general and their research specifically.

The Trust Relationship between Science and Digitized Publics

The research project "The Trust Relationship between Science and Digitized Publics" (TruSDi), funded by the DFG for three years, investigates the trust relationship between science and digitized publics at the level of users, content and social structures. In five empirical research modules, the research program aims to (1) identify dynamic changes in trust relationships and (2) to provide explanatory approaches. A combination of panel surveys, qualitative interviews, content analysis and reception experiments will be used to analyze and relate different areas of public science communication.

Science communication during pandemics: The role of public engagement in social media discussions

Leading scientists in the fields of virology and epidemiology dominate the public debate on the COVID-19 pandemic. The experts provide citizens with information about the disease, its spread, and preventive and protection measures. For this purpose, they also use their own social media channels. This direct communication from science to the public represents an important development in science communication. So far, research on the impact of direct communication in social media and the effects of citizen participation in the discussion of scientific evidence is lacking. In order to understand the mechanisms of science communication in pandemic times, it is crucial to consider not only communication via mass media but also discussions in online environments by both experts and laypeople.

Talking to machines, deciding with machines: Public engagement with science in the era of Artificial Intelligence

Science Communication and Public Engagement

In science communication, new face-to-face and online formats are being developed that enable the involvement and participation of the public in the sense of Public Engagement with Science. These formats are intended to improve dialog and create a relationship of trust between science and the public. So far, however, there is a lack of scientific evidence concerning this field of research. It is still largely unclear how such science communication formats are used and received and what significance users attribute to participation and dialog.

Public Online Engagement with Science Information

Internet technologies and specifically social media have drastically changed science communication. The public no longer merely consume science-related information but participate (for example, by rating and disseminating) and generate their own content. Likewise, scientists are no longer dependent on journalists as gatekeepers to spreading relevant information. This paper identifies and reflects on relevant theoretical strands that help to inform theoretical frameworks and research agendas.

In the BMBF-funded joint project "Trust in Citizen Science (TiCS)", we are researching trust potentials and reservations in the context of citizen science

Science communication with and about communicative artificial intelligence: emotions, engagements, effects

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