News

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.

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.

Publications

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.

all publications

Team

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 Schwarz, Francis Alpers, Elisabeth U. Wagner-Olfermann, and Tatjana Faj. Melanie Waltinger currently supports as team assistant.

 
TeamAnLi Fotografie