Dorothee Arlt

Academic career and education

since July 2021: research assistant at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at the Ilmenau University of Technology

2013 – 2021: post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern, head of the research project "Political Instrumentalization of the Islam?" within the interdisciplinary research cooperation "Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies" (2018-2021)

2017 (spring term): visiting Professor (Vertretungsprofessur) for the Assistant Professorship Political Communication at the Institute for Communication Science and Media Research, University of Zurich  

2013: Doctoral Thesis on "Extension the operating life time of nuclear power plants - No, thank you!?  A communication study on the influence of media communication on attitudes towards nuclear power"

2009 – 2013: research assistant and doctoral candidate at the department Empirical Media Research/Political Communication at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at Ilmenau University of Technology, head of the social science sub-project within the interdisciplinary research project "RESIDENS" (2009-2012)

2007 – 2009: Research assistant in the department of Media Conception/Media Psychology at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at Ilmenau University of Technology,

2007: Diplom-Thesis on “Unreachability in mobile communication. A media-psychological experimental study on SMS communication”

2001 – 2007: Studies of "Applied Media Science" at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at the Ilmenau University of Technology

Section and network activities

Since 2019: Member of the DFG-funded network "Media Trust in the Digital World”

2018 – 2021: Deputy spokesperson of the "Political Communication" section of the Swiss Society for Communication and Media Studies

2013 – 2017: Vice-Chair of the Working Group "Environment, Science and Risk Communication" of the International Association for Media and Communication Research

2017 – 2019: Mentee in the Gertrude J. Robinson Mentoring Programme of the DGPuK

2014 – 2015: Mentee in the Mentoring Programme of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Bern

Member of scientific societies DGPuK, ICA, SGKM, ECREA

Newest publications:

Eugster, B., Arlt, D., & Schmidt, F. (2022). The relationship between differential media exposure and attitudes towards Muslims and Islam and the potential consequences on voting intention towards banning veiling in public. Communications. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2021-0004

De Silva-Schmidt, F., Brüggemann, M., Hoppe, I., & Arlt, D. (2022). Learning about climate politics during COP 21: Explaining a diminishing knowledge gap. Public Understanding of Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625211068635

De Silva-Schmidt, F., Brüggemann, M., Hoppe, I., & Arlt, D. (2022). Learning about climate politics during COP 21: Explaining a diminishing knowledge gap. Public Understanding of Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625211068635

Arlt, D., Schaller, S. & Wolling, J. (2022): Die Energiewende aus Sicht der Bevölkerung. Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Befragung im Vorfeld der Bundestagswahl 2021. Ilmenau. URL: https://doi.org/10.22032/dbt.51678;

Arlt, D. (2021). Banning burkas and niqabs? Exploring perceptions of bias in media coverage of Islam and Muslims in Switzerland and their relation to people’s voting intention concerning the burka-initiative. Studies in Communication Sciences, 21(1), 9-25.

Schmidt, F., Eugster, B., & Arlt, D. (2021). Varieties of Populist Attitudes and Their Link to Islamophobia in Switzerland. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 33 (4), 873-890.

Fawzi, N., Steindl, N., Obermaier, M., Prochazka, F., Arlt, D., Blöbaum, B., . . . Ziegele, M. (2021). Concepts, causes and consequences of trust in news media – a literature review and framework. Annals of the International Communication Association, 1-21.

Wolling, J., Kuhlmann, C., Schumann, C., Berger, P., & Arlt, D. (2021). Corona 2020 – Zerreißprobe für die Gesellschaft? Persönliches Erleben und mediale Vermittlung einer multiplen Krise.

Here you can find my complete list of publications and presentations

Forschungsschwerpunkte / Main areas of research

• political communication online and offline
• science, energy and climate communication online and offline
• media reception and media effects research
• the role of media in the context of flight and migration
• media perceptions/ media trust

Forschungsprojekte / research projects

• „The Relevance of Communication during Corona Crises“ (RCCC) (since 2020): Research project together with colleagues from the EMPK  (since April 2020)
• Research assistant in the BMBF-funded project "Science Communication Energy Transition" (since 2021)
• “Political Instrumentalization of Islam? Framing the Burqa as a Threat to National Values and Security in Switzerland and its Consequences” (2018-2022): Interdisciplinary research project within the interfaculty research cooperation „Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies“ at the University of Bern
• Die Flüchtlingsdebatte in den Medien aus Sicht der Bevölkerung (2016-2020): Survey project together with Prof. Dr Jens Wolling (TU Ilmenau) as well as Prof. Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen and Dr. Tanja Evers (KU Eichstätt)
• Laufzeitverlängerung von Atomkraftwerken - Nein, Danke!? (Doktoral Thesis, 2010-2013)
• RESIDENS-Projekt [Effizientere Energienutzung durch systemtechnische Integration des privaten Endverbrauchers] (2009-2012): interdisciplinary research project in cooperation with the Department of Electrical Power Supply of the Ilmenau University of Technology, two Fraunhofer-Instituts, and the Stadtwerke Ilmenau
• Steigerung der Energieeffizienz durch Einsatz einer innovativen Verbraucherschnittstelle (2008): interdisciplinary research project in cooperation with the Departments Electrical Power Supply and Automotive Engineering of the Ilmenau University of Technology

My teaching repertoire includes lectures and seminars in which basic concepts, theoretical approaches and fields of application on the content as well as the reception and impact of media-mediated communication are dealt with. Furthermore, I hold methodological and research seminars that focus on the practical research application of theoretical approaches and empirical methods to answer concrete research questions together with the students.