Our Research Interests

Most of us interact and communicate with society and the people around us through media – be it traditionally via newspapers and radio, or via digital services and platforms. Against this backdrop of current and far-reaching social changes such as digitalisation, sustainability and globalisation, the members of the dkmi Research Centre investigate the role, form and future of media and communication.

Our research is application-oriented, actor-centred and focuses in particular on the cultural dimension of human interaction. Transformative research and close cooperation with partners from civil society, the (regional) economy and cultural institutions form the core of our academic practice.

We have an interdisciplinary structure, with currently members from five departments of Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. Our members include research-active professors and members of the academic mid-level staff.

Against this backdrop, the media and the ways in which they are used play a central role in social transformation: in our media-saturated society, an ever-increasing number of people around the world are consuming a wide range of media content across ever-expanding timeframes. At the same time, more and more individuals, groups and organisations are using the media to engage in communication. As private individuals and as stakeholders in organisations of all sizes and types, they strengthen democratic structures by contributing to individual enlightenment, the formation of character and opinion, participating in a constructive public sphere, and enabling social participation.

The members of the dkmi therefore investigate the role of media, media offerings and communication in transformative social processes. The fundamental prerequisite – according to our core thesis – is to take as our starting point the socially constituted individual in their human concerns and to pay particular attention to the cultural dimension.

Topics

Our members focus on media products, mulit-media artefacts, mediated communication, and the media themselves – in the sense of technologies and applications. They investigate the full spectrum of media innovation and digital communication, ranging from 3D audio to virtual reality, from transmedia storytelling to digital journalism, from PR to sustainability communication, from knowledge management to language technology, and from organisational development and crisis communication to media literacy and individual resilience.

For further information on our current research projects, see Projects.

At dkmi, we share the view that the cultural dimension is crucial to better understanding mediated interaction and communication. Culture fundamentally shapes both our behaviour and our norms and values; in light of this our research projects are oriented towards all three levels of social analysis. At the macro level, work focuses on discursive systems in journalism and civil society, as well as on the evolving media culture in general. At the meso level, attention rests primarily on media innovations and communicative practices within and between organisations, such as (state) organisations and civil society actors. At the micro level, we are interested in web and media literacy, lifelong learning and usability.

We develop and support processes of transformation, in addition to researching them. As sparring partners for social and economic actors we care especially about knowledge transfer and the teaching of key digital skills.

Selected Publications

Meissner, Florian, Corina Buzoianu, und Øyvind Ihlen. (2026) „Closing the gap: Bridging research and practice to implement best practices in disaster warning communication“. Crisis and Risk Communication, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/29986907.2026.2624824.
Helferich PS, Heidbrink H, Pleil T, Rademacher L (2026;), "Transformative learning and life competencies and their application for the education of communication professionals". Journal of Communication Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-12-2024-0268
Bigos, M., Aufenanger, J. (2026 i.E.).Digitale Transformation in der Lehrer:innenbildung: Bildungstechnologien lehren. In Brüggemann, T., Tuchscherer, M. & Wiepcke, C. (Hrsg.). The Age of EdTech. Bildungstechnologie im Spannungsfeld zwischen Innovation und Qualität. Wiesbaden: SpringerNature.
Heidbrink, Henriette, Christian Bernhadt (2025). DIY-Transformation in öffentlich-rechtlichen Medien. Wie eine Graswurzelbewegung Innovationen der Formatentwicklung in der ARD etabliert. In Alles rational? Der menschliche Faktor in Medienorganisationen: Proceedings zur Jahrestagung der Fachgruppe Medienökonomie der DGPuK 2024 in Mainz. DOI: https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/101888
Pleil, T., Helferich, P., Otsa, T. (2025): A Typology of Strategic Sustainability Communication: From Reporting to Transformation.In: Strategic Sustainability Communication (CSR). DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-89486-2_4
Breitsameter, S. (2025), „Reconfigurating the Apparatus. Radio Art in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland“. In Listen Up! Radio Art in the USA, herausgegeben von Anne Thurman-Jajes und Regine Beyer. Transcript Verla, 175-210.

Publication list 2025 (selection)

Publikationsliste zum Download (PDF)

Special Interest Groups

Many of our members co-operate individually with each other. In addition, four self-organised groups work on shared topics. Please contact their members directly for more information.