- Since March 2023
Expert member of the ZDF Television Council on quality measurement
- 2018–2020
Director of the Mainz Media Institute
- 2014–2019
Spokesperson of the Research Unit on Media Convergence
- 2013–2015
Executive Director of the Department of Communication
- Since 2011
Professor of Communication Science with a focus on Media Convergence, Department of Communication
- 2010–2014
Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies”
- 2006–2011
Postdoctoral researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (Commission for Comparative Media and Communication Studies); concurrently lecturer in the Media Management program at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences
- 2005
Doctorate at the University of Hohenheim, dissertation: “Fernsehen in digitalen Medienumgebungen. Eine empirische Analyse des Zuschauerverhaltens”
- 1997–2005
Research Associate in Communication Science and Social Research at the University of Hohenheim; project researcher at the Center for Media Economics and Communication Research
- 1996–1997
Project Manager at the Institute for Empirical Social Research, Nuremberg
- 1995–1996
Research Associate at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Federal Employment Agency, Nuremberg
- 1988–1995
Studies in Social Sciences at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen–Nuremberg, with concentrations in Law, Social Policy, Empirical Social Research, and Communication Science
- Media Change & Media Convergence
- Media Use and Reception Research
- Media Systems / Media Structures
- Methods of Market and Communication Research
- Comparative Media Research
- International Communication Association (ICA)
- International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)
- European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
- German Communication Association (DGPuK)
- Austrian Society for Communication Science (ÖGK)
- Media Structures Network
- 2018–2020: Director of the Mainz Media Institute
- 2014–2019: Spokesperson of the Research Unit on Media Convergence
- 2013–2015: Executive Director of the Department of Communication
- 2010–2014: Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies”
- 2025
1st Prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK) for the best communication science journal article for the contribution “Ich mach mir die Welt, wie sie mir gefällt. Meinungsbildungsrelevanz aus Nutzungsperspektive”, published in Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft (with Pascal Schneiders and Daniel Stegmann)
- 2024
Longlist Bob Franklin Journal Article Award 2023–24 as one of the Top Six Papers in Journalism Studies (together with Olaf Jandura, Linards Udris, Andreas Riedl, Miriam Klein, Mark Eisenegger, Ralph Kösters & Brigitte Hofstetter Furrer)
- 2022
Shortlist Outstanding Article Award Digital Journalism 2021 as one of the Top Six Papers (together with Stefan Geiß, Pascal Jürgens and Melanie Magin)
- 2022
Top Faculty Paper of the Journalism Studies Division of the International Communication Association (together with Olaf Jandura, Ralph Kösters, Miriam Klein, Melanie Magin, Linards Udris, Andreas Riedl & Ralph Weiß)
- 2019
1st Prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK) for the best communication science journal article for the contribution “Common Meeting Ground in Gefahr? Selektionslogiken politischer Informationsquellen und ihr Einfluss auf die Fragmentierung individueller Themenhorizonte” (together with Stefan Geiß, Melanie Magin & Pascal Jürgens)
- 2017
Best Abstract Award of the ECREA, Political Communication Section (together with Pascal Jürgens & Melanie Magin)
- 2016
2nd Prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK) for the best communication science journal article for the contribution “Suchmaschinen auf dem Prüfstand – eine vergleichende Inhaltsanalyse der Qualität von Trefferlisten” (together with Sarah Bosold, Eva-Maria Felka, Dominique Heinbach, Miriam Klein, Melanie Magin & Alice Pieper)
- 2015
Top Faculty Paper Award of the Communication/Technology Division of the International Communication Association (together with Leonard Reinecke, Stefan Aufenanger, Manfred E. Beutel, Michael Dreier, Oliver Quiring, Klaus Wölfling and Kai Müller)
