Hannah Greber, who is a predoctoral researcher within Sophie Lecheler's Political Communication Research Group (POLCOM), receives the stipend for her dissertation entitled Immersive Journalism – The Future of the News?, in which she investigates the possibilities and perils of immersive journalism and its effects on the audience. More specifically, she studies how audiences themselves view such audience-centered technologies in journalism, and how these technologies can be used to foster democratically beneficial effects, for instance civic engagement. She has been awarded the fellowship for the duration of 24 months, starting in October 2022.

The DOC Fellowship Programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences supports highly qualified doctoral candidates from all research areas. The fellowship enables young researchers to dedicate themselves to working in focused fashion to complete their doctoral thesis within a clear timeframe.