With Viorela Dan, the Department of Communication has gained an internationally-recognized communication scholar with proven expertise at the interface of communication and AI. She joins the department from the University of Innsbruck, where she was Assistant Professor of Media Change at the Department of Media, Society and Communication since 2023. Before that, she held the position of an "Akademische Rätin" at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich.
Viorela completed her habilitation at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (2025) and her doctorate at the Freie Universität Berlin (summa cum laude, 2016). Research stays at the University of Texas at Austin and Indiana University, among others, have contributed to the development of an international research network.
Her research examines how people interact with AI-generated content and what consequences this has for journalism, political communication, and the public sphere. She combines theoretical contributions with experimental and content-analytical studies on deepfakes, misinformation and fact-checking. Her work has been published in leading international journals of our research field, including the International Journal of Press/Politics, Communication Research and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
In addition to her research, Viorela brings extensive teaching experience (30+ courses, five teaching awards, supervision of 30+ theses) as well as experience in third party-funded projects and knowledge transfer, including training and auditing for international fact-checking organizations.
In Vienna, Viorela will systematically expand her research on Human-AI Interaction and in particular investigate the role of AI in strategic political communication and journalism. A major focus will be on the development and evaluation of new forms of collaboration between humans and AI in content creation and information dissemination.
We are delighted to welcome you at our department, dear Viorela!