Revitalizing the Erasmus partnership with Sofia University: Andreas Schwarz gives a guest lecture on global COVID-19 risk communication and attends a panel discussion on digital strategic communication

Last week, Dr. Andreas Schwarz, head of the Group for Research on Public Relations and Communication of Technology at TU Ilmenau visited the Erasmus partner Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in Bulgaria. After a longer time of travel restrictions, that visit was a good opportunity to revitalize the cooperation between the universities, especially between the Department of Economic Sciences and Media (Ilmenau) and the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication (Sofia).

TeilnehmerInnen der Podiumsdiskussion in Sofia

The program included a guest lecture on global risk and crisis communication of the COVID-19 pandemic to communication students in Sofia. In that context, Schwarz also presented the latest large-scale international research project DECIPHER (funded by DFG) which has been started last summer at TU Ilmenau and the German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment. In addition, Schwarz was invited to join a panel discussion by Dr. Manuela Toteva who is an internationally renowned expert in digital strategic communication as well as lecturer at Sofia University. This summer term she will also teach a graduate course on applied strategic communication at TU Ilmenau. Further participants of the panel discussion on digital communication were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Sofia University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexander Hristov, President of the Bulgarian Association of PR agencies, Anita Bedin, President of the Bulgarian PR Association, as well as Dr. Kalin Kalinov, lecturer of communication at Sofia University. Schwarz concluded that visit with hopes for a reinvigorated student and staff mobility between the universities.

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