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Bachelor students discuss with press officers in the Thuringian state parliament

There will be three elections in Thuringia in 2024 - after the local and European elections, the new state parliament will be elected on September 1. An election that is already attracting attention across Germany. This winter semester, Public Relations students have jointly developed a campaign to increase voter turnout in the state elections. Back in November, they discussed their 2019 election mobilization campaign with the agency Samt & Seidel in Erfurt. Now, at the end of the winter semester, they visited the Thuringian state parliament and had the opportunity to talk to those responsible for communication in the state parliament administration as well as in individual parliamentary groups.
Talking with the CDU parliamentary group.

Talking with the CDU parliamentary group.

BO PR zu Besuch im Thüringer Landtag

Visiting the Thuringia State parliament.

In den Räumen der Grünen Fraktion.

In the office of the Green parliamentary group.

On January 19, the vocational orientation students visited the Thuringian State Parliament together with lecturer Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann. After a tour of the building with insights into the development of the state parliament, they met Marc Triebe. Together with other colleagues, the head of the public relations department told the students how the state parliament is preparing for the election year in terms of communication and what challenges the politically neutral communications department of the state parliament is facing. 


The students then visited the press office of the Green parliamentary group and gained an insight into the communication of the parliamentary group in a relaxed atmosphere. In an exchange with the students, press spokesperson Michael Herrmann discussed the potential of new communication channels with his colleagues and explained the difference between parliamentary group and party communication.


Michael Windisch and Lilli Fischer from the CDU parliamentary group rounded off the visit afterwards. The head of political communication and the social media officer gave the students a detailed insight into the communication portfolio and their strategies for addressing potential voters.  


The visit marked the end of the winter semester, during which the students worked together to develop an election mobilization campaign for the upcoming state elections in Thuringia.

Contact: Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann

Research

We research various structural, content-related and social dimensions of strategic communication, including in the context of technology-oriented organizations. Our focus is on public relations & organizational communication, risk and crisis communication, communication with and about technologies, and international strategic communication.

ResearchTU Ilmenau
TeachingTU Ilmenau

Teaching

In the area of teaching, we deal as a field of expertise with the areas of public relations, crisis communication, international communication, communicator research as well as media change and social media.

PublicationsiStockphoto
  • Schwarz, A., Seeger, M., & Auer, C. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of international crisis communication research. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
    Schwarz, A., Schleicher, K., Srugies, A., & Rothenberger, L. (2017). Crisis communication of youth welfare offices in Germany: Findings on media coverage and strategic communication especially in the context of severe cases of child welfare endangerment. Ilmenau: Ilmenau University Press. 
    Schwarz, A. (2010). Crisis PR from a stakeholder perspective: The influence of attributions of cause and responsibility on organizational reputation. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. for the Social Sciences.

The research group for Public Relations and Communication of Technology has been led on an interim basis since 04/2023 by Prof. Dr. Martin Löffelholz. The team consists of Dr. Andreas SchwarzFrancis Alpers, Elisabeth U. Wagner-Olfermann, and Tatjana Faj. Melanie Waltinger currently supports as team assistant.

 
TeamAnLi Fotografie