Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martin Löffelholz holds the Chair of Media Studies at the Technische Universität Ilmenau, where he also heads the International Crisis Communication Research Group, which he founded in 2002.
After studying communication science, political science, sociology and European ethnology at the University of Münster and earning his doctorate in 1988 with a thesis on the political planning of academic journalism education, Prof. Löffelholz worked at the Universities of Münster and Leipzig until 1998. When he moved to the TU Ilmenau, the Free State of Thuringia appointed him founding director of the Institute for Media and Communication Science (IfMK) in 1999.
In addition to his membership in the Association of Award Winners and Alumni of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation ("Humboldtians"), Prof. Löffelholz took on several visiting professorships outside Europe, including at the Universitas Atma Jaya Yogyakarta in Indonesia and the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. From 2012 to 2015, he was on leave from his duties as a university professor to serve as President of the Swiss German University in Jakarta, Indonesia. After his return, he headed the board of directors of the Institute for Media and Communication Science at TU Ilmenau from 2017 until early 2021.
In his more than 300 scientific publications, including 18 books, Prof. Löffelholz mainly focuses on journalism, war and crisis communication, political communication, organizational communication as well as intercultural and international aspects. He has led numerous empirical research projects, including on the image of Germany held by multipliers in the Maghreb states, on the media relations of the German and U.S. armed forces, on the public relations work of the German domestic intelligence services, or on the attitudes of online journalists in Germany and the United States.
Prof. Löffelholz is a member of various academic associations, including the International Communication Association (ICA), the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), and the German Communication Association (DGPuK). From 1997 to 2000, he was spokesperson of the DGPuK's Journalism and Journalism Research Section and later initiator of the DGPuK's International and Intercultural Communication Section.
For three decades, Prof. Löffelholz has also worked as an expert, consultant and lecturer in international (development) cooperation, including for the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa), the German Academic Exchange Service, the German Foreign Office, political foundations and other institutions. From 2008 to 2012, he led a series of trainings for journalists from ASEAN countries on behalf of GIZ. For ifa, he designed and moderated dialogue conferences in Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Jakarta, Nairobi, and Oman, among others.
In the course of his research work, he frequently visited various countries in Africa, Asia, and South and Central America. He undertook field research in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Yemen, Cambodia, Kenya, Kosovo, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the People's Republic of China, among others. Before beginning his university career, he worked as a journalist, including several years as a television and radio reporter for Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
