Klaus Schönbach Award

In 2014, the Department of Communication established its very own Research Award. It aims to support PhD students and post-docs to pursue, hone, and enhance their own international line of research. The main goal is to foster international visibility and impact of young researchers in our department. Successful recipients are given up to € 2.000 to complete a proposed research project. Award recipients are encouraged to submit the outcome of their research to international conferences and journals. Two external reviewers and two members of the selection committee are responsible for the reviewing process. In 2022, the department re-named the award to Klaus Schönbach Award, in honor of our former Department Chair (2010-2014) Klaus Schönbach.

Award Winners 2026

Jaroslava Kaňková

Too rushed and flattered to notice? Developing and testing a critical AI literacy intervention countering the persuasive and epistemic risks of sycophantic AI

Rinat Meerson

Too rushed and flattered to notice? Developing and testing a critical AI literacy intervention countering the persuasive and epistemic risks of sycophantic AI

Award Winners 2014-2025

2025: Michaela Forrai & Alexandra Wölfle
From prompts to patterns: Linking panel data with a content analysis of ChatGPT histories
2025: Thomas Kirchmair & Aleksandra Lazić
The cognitive costs of convenience – How cognitive offloading to AI affects memory accuracy, critical thinking, and creativity
2024: Jens Hagelstein
Too busy for business? An experience sampling study on stress and performance loss caused by digital internal communication
2023: Vera Axyonova & George Georgarakis
Can experts afford an emotion? The effect of emotional and toxic expert language on public perceptions about the Russo-Ukrainian war
2022: Kevin Koban & Melanie Saumer
Online hostility to go: An eye-tracking study on the impact of the reception situation on bystanders' processing of anti-LGBTQIA+ social media comments
2021: Teresa Weikmann, Hannah Greber & Alina Nikolaou
Do you believe? How different forms of deepfakes challenge our trust in the senses
2021: Isabelle Freiling & Anja Stevic
To disclose or not to disclose? The role of anxiety, privacy concerns, and connectedness in online self-disclosure
2020: Marlis Stubenvoll & Alice Binder
Is knowledge power? Investigating chilling effects as a consequence of declarative and procedural online privacy protection knowledge using browser histories
2020: Svenja Schäfer
Hate speech as a fuel for social disintegration? Effects of hate speech and counter speech on implicit and explicit stereotypes, social distancing and polarized attitudes
2019: Jakob-Moritz Eberl & Fabienne Lind
Climate migration and climate migrants in European media coverage (Joint Proposal mit Judith Kohlenberger vom Institut für Sozialpolitik der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien)
2018: Jakob-Moritz Eberl
Poll quality, poll credibility and potential spillover effects (Joint Proposal mit Johann Gründl vom Institut für Staatswissenschaft der Universität Wien)
2017: Sandra Banjac
(Re-)conceptualising journalistic role conceptions through audience expectations: Considering journalists and audiences in South Africa
2017: Desirée Schmuck
'Do Muslims hate us?' Effects of repetitive exposure to anti-Muslim political mobilization on young Muslims' hostility and support for violent action over time
2016: Brigitte Naderer
Long-term effects of product placement disclosures
2016: Wolfgang Weitzl
The complex interplay between message ambiguity, valence and source credibility: The online customer review case
2015: Kathrin Karsay & Desirée Schmuck
'Weak, sad, and lazy fatties'. The effects of reality weight loss TV shows on adolescents' explicit and implicit stereotypes toward obese people
2014: Franziska Marquart
The effects of racist stereotypes in anti-racism campaigns on implicit and explicit attitudes
2014: Brian Weeks
(Mis)information sharing: How anxiety accelerates the spread of inaccurate information within social media