Tomorrow, on April 1, I’ll start my new position at the Department of Communication and Media Research at University of Zurich. I will be appointed as Professor for Empirical Communication and Media Studies, and the division will be labelled Media Psychology and Methods.
I’m very excited about the new position, where I will continue my research on well-being, privacy, media effects, and open science. I will now also work more on questions related to AI, including parasocial relationships and effects on well-being.
In teaching, I will focus on statistics, methodology, philosophy of science, media psychology, and media effects. I’ll also see how we can integrate some open science practices into the curriculum.
Although I’m excited for what lies ahead, I’m also sad leaving the Department of Communication at University of Vienna. I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 1/2 years there, first as Assistant and then Associate Professor for Interactive Communication.
Personal highlights include the lecture on Media Effects, which I loved (and fortunately the students also). Then, after more than 10 submissions, in 2024 I was finally able to attract third party funding — which meant I would receive tenure. I now hope that the project Promise can be transferred successfully to Zurich.
But my biggest highlights were all the encounters with so many great colleagues. The many lunch dates, the Tenure Track Stammtisch, and all the special community events. The department in Vienna is ambitious, but never toxic. I always felt strongly supported. (And thank you for such a nice farewell message.)
I will miss everyone — but I’m even more curious to all that lies ahead!
Baba Wien, Grüezi Zürich!
