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.

In 2023, Vera Axyonova and George Georgarakis received the Klaus Schönbach Award for their research proposal entitled Can experts afford an emotion? The effect of emotional and toxic expert language on public perceptions about the Russo-Ukrainian war.


Former winners

  • 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

    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

    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

    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

    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 (Joint Proposal)
  • 2014
    Franziska Marquart: The effects of racist stereotypes in anti-racism campaigns on implicit and explicit attitudes

    Brian Weeks    : (Mis)information sharing: How anxiety accelerates the spread of inaccurate information within social media