The research conducted by the Department of Communication tackles processes in public communication (via the media) and their infrastructure conditions, as well as their impact on society and individuals. From a comparative perspective, these include system and organizational research, journalism research, historical media research, and research into media content and impact. In terms of subject areas, our professors and academic staff work on such central issues as media regulation, media entertainment, media history, media innovation and media change, political communication, advertising and public relations. The use and further development of methods for empirical media and communication research are particularly key focuses, especially with respect to Computational Communication Science.

Through its research work, the Department of Communication contributes to the following key research areas of the Faculty: "Gender and transformation", "Governance, democracy, solidarity", "Migration, citizenship and belonging", "Political competition and communication", "Visual studies in social science" as well as "Knowledge societies in turbulent times". "Communicators" in this context are not just traditional communicators such as journalists but also other players (e.g., economic or political players) using other communicative forms (PR, consultancy, advertising) and processes. Our research also focuses on new media communication techniques and their impact on individuals and society.