Martin Löffelholz and Andreas Schwarz at the annual conference of the International Crisis and Risk Communication Association

Current studies and research perspectives were discussed by Prof. Martin Löffelholz and PD Dr. habil. Andreas Schwarz, who head the International Crisis Communication Research Group at TU Ilmenau, at the conference of the International Crisis and Risk Communication Association at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA, from March 10 to 12, 2025.

Together with Matthew W. Seeger (Wayne State University, USA), Andreas Schwarz presented key findings from the Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication, which will be published by WILEY in summer 2025, at a high-caliber panel on trends and the future of risk, crisis and disaster research. The 50 chapters of the volume, edited by Schwarz, Seeger and Sora Kim (Chinese University, Hong Kong), show how climate change, pandemics and Russia's hybrid warfare are changing the dynamics of risk and crisis communication worldwide. In another presentation, Andreas Schwarz presented the results of a study on the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria in 2023. An analysis of the disaster communication of the government, disaster control authorities and NGOs points to significant failures in effectively informing the population. Co-authors of the study are Deanna Sellnow (Clemson University, USA), Audra Diers-Lawson (Kristiania University of Applied Sciences, Oslo) and Timothy Sellnow (Clemson University, USA).

Martin Löffelholz discussed with researchers from Canada, Sweden, and the United States the consequences of Russia's attack on Ukraine, which violated international law. In the panel "Narratives under Fire", the researchers called for international risk and crisis communication research to include violent conflicts much more in its analyses. In a second presentation, Martin Löffelholz discussed methodological challenges in evaluating risk and crisis communication by governments in protracted situations of danger. Together with Pauline Gidget Estella, postdoctoral fellow at the TU Ilmenau, he analyzed the varying willingness of representatives of state institutions in six European countries and the USA to participate in the evaluation of their respective strategies for the communicative management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Information about the International Crisis and Risk Communication Association: https://wearecrisiscomm.com/

Information on the Handbook of International Crisis and Risk Communication: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Handbook+of+International+Crisis+and+Risk+Communication+Research%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9781394180806