I am excited to share that I accepted a position as assistant professor at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam in the Department of Communication Science. I am thrilled to become a member of this great department and I am looking forward to work and learn together with an amazing group of scholars. At the VU, I will have colleagues whose work is characterized by the use of advanced and computational research methods and an extraordinary openness to interdisciplinary collaboration. I couldn’t be more excited about learning and advancing my academic career in this environment.
So starting on the 1st September 2020, I will be teaching and researching in the field of persuasive communication with a particular focus on understanding persuasion processes on social media. Primarily, I will investigate how affordances, social norms, and interpersonal processes interact in shaping attitude formation and behavior.
As you might imagine, we are equally excited about moving to the beautiful city of Amsterdam. Although we will be missing Mainz and cherish every remaining moment here, we are looking forward to new adventures and opportunities in the Netherlands. Tot ziens in Amsterdam!
On a personal note…
I am immensely grateful to all the people who supported me over the last years and who helped me to get to this point in my academic career. These include teachers, mentors, colleagues, and friends in Mainz, Stuttgart, and Ithaca. I am particularly thankful to those people whose advice, mentorship, and friendship have helped me to become the researcher I am today and who helped me in planing and reflecting on my future as a communication scholar – especially in the last months:
- My parents who are and remain my most trusted mentors and advisers.
- Sabine Trepte, Christian Schemer, and Michael Scharkow whose guidance, advice, and mentorship had a profound impact on my research as well as my future plans and who helped me think clearly about what it means to be a communication scholar.
- Tobias Dienlin, Stefan Winter, German Neubaum who are not just great scholars, but true friends. Their support means all to me.
- Natalie Bazarova who not only supported my visit to Cornell, but continues to inspire and support me. I am very grateful that we have met and I am looking forward to many more collaborations in the future.
- Janis Whitlock who teaches me important life lessons in every of our conversations. I hope that our paths will cross often in the next years.
- Samuel Taylor whose friendship and collegiality means a lot to me.
- Dima Epstein and all my colleagues from the Comparative Privacy Research Network who taught me to be patient while remaining immensely supportive.
- I also want to thank all my colleagues in Hohenheim, Ithaca, and Mainz for making my day-to-day job an inspiring and fun endeavor.
- Maria, for her unconditional support and love.