Dr. Yi Xu

• Since May 2021: research associate for the project “Deciphering the ‘pandemic public sphere’: Government communication, (social) media discourses on and citizens’ responses to Covid-19 in Europe and the USA” funded by German Research Foundation (DFG)
• January 2019 – August 2023: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) on the topic “Multimodal news frames: Comparison of Germany’s and China’s national images in news posts on social media between 2007 and 2019” 
• April 2016 – June 2018: Master’s degree (M. A.) in Media and Communication Science, Technische Universität Ilmenau
• September 2011 - July 2015: Bachelor’s degree (B. A.) in Communication, the University of International Relations, China

Research interests:

• Multimodal news framing
• Visual communication
• Risk and crisis communication
• Public diplomacy and national images

Publications:

• Xu, Y., Yu, J., & Löffelholz, M. (2022). Portraying the pandemic: Analysis of textual-visual frames in German news coverage of COVID-19 on Twitter. Journalism Practice, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2058063
• Löffelholz, M., Estella, P. & Xu, Y. (2022). COVID-19 as catalyst of global risk society: Institutionalization, de-Westernization and datafication of crisis communication research. In Y. Nobuto (Eds.), The COVID-19 pandemic and risks in East Asia: Media, social reactions and theories (pp. 14-40). Routledge.
• Xu, Y., & Löffelholz, M. (2021). Multimodal Framing of Germany’s National Image: Comparing News on Twitter (USA) and Weibo (China). Journalism Studies, 22(16), 2256-2278. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1994445  
• Xu, Y. (2021). Framing advocacy event: Comparing news coverage and Facebook comments of the Belt and Road Forum in Pakistan and the USA. Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia, 20(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.17477/jcea.2021.20.1.001  
• Rothenberger, L., & Xu, Y. (2021). Kulturelle Vielfalt. Communicatio Socialis: Serie Grundbegriffe der Kommunikations- und Medienethik. 526-531. https://doi.org/10.5771/0010-3497-2021-4-526

Conferences:

• Xu, Y. (2023). Multimodal crisis communication: A comparative analysis of Instagram posts published by governments and health institutions in Germany, Turkey, the UK, the US during 2020–2021. Annual Conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), 9-13 July 2023, Lyon, France.
• Löffelholz, M., Estella, P., Schleicher, K., Radechovsky, J., & Xu, Y. (2023). Improvisation, inconsistency, competition: Communication strategies of governments in Europe and the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic – a seven-country comparison. Annual Conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), 9-13 July 2023, Lyon, France.
• Löffelholz, M., Estella, P., Schleicher, K., Radechovsky, J., & Xu, Y. (2023). How Governments in Europe and the United States Understand and Deal with Citizens' Perceptions of Government Crisis Communication - Lessons from a Seven-Country Study. The 7th International Crisis Communication Conference of European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), 5-7 October 2023, Goteborg, Sweden.
• Xu, Y. (2023). Visual framing and implication to multimodal framing: A systematic review of publications during 1970–2021. The 73rd Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA, Visual Communication Studies Division), 25-29 May 2023, Toronto, Canada.
• Rothenberger, L., Xu, Y., Knutzen, K. & Tribusean, I. (2023). Using online social virtual reality in teaching intercultural communication. The 73rd Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA, Intercultural Communication Division), 25-29 May 2023, Toronto, Canada.
• Xu, Y. (2022). Portraying the pandemic: Analysis of textual-visual frames in German news coverage of COVID-19 on Twitter. The 72nd Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA, Visual Communication Studies Division), 26-30 May 2022, Paris, France. Note: This article was awarded “2022 Top Student Paper” by the Visual Communication Studies Division of the ICA.
• Xu, Y. (2021). Multimodal news frames on Germany’s national image: Comparing news in U.S. Twitter and China Weibo. The 71st Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA, Visual Communication Studies Division), 27-31 May 2021, virtual conference.
• Xu, Y. (2020). Wolf Warrior" Diplomacy? Strategic Communication of Chinese Digital Diplomacy on Twitter”. The 70th Annual Conference of International Communication Association(ICA, Public Diplomacy Interest Group), 21-26 May 2020, virtual conference.
• Xu, Y. (2019). Framing national images: Comparing images of the Belt and Road Forum in news coverage and Facebook comments in Pakistan and the USA. The 69th Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA, Public Diplomacy Interest Group), 24-28 May 2019, Washington D.C., USA.
• Xu, Y., & Liu, T. (2018). Effects of Avatar's Humanness, Gestures, Spatial Presence on Interpersonal Trust and Attraction in Social VR. The 68th Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA, Communication and Technology Division), 24-28 May 2018, Prague, Czech Republic.