News

Practice and research in crisis communication: top-class guest lectures

At the invitation of Dr. Andreas Schwarz from the Department of Public Relations & Technical Communication, there were two top-class lectures for students of Applied Media and Communication Science and Media and Communication Science on May 15.

Guest speakers with the students and the lecturer Dr. Andreas Schwarz

Prof. Dr. Deanna D. Sellnow and Prof. Dr. Timothy Sellnow, both from Clemson University in the USA, spoke about the challenges of risk and crisis communication in the context of the current mutation and spread of the bird flu virus in the USA, where cows and cow's milk have already been affected by infections. Janina Unselt, Senior Account Manager at the international communications agency Edelman, spoke about the practice of crisis communication in the context of product recalls by large companies. She also explained to the students what they should look out for during their studies in order to develop good opportunities for a career in crisis communication consulting. Janina Unselt herself is a graduate of the Media and Communication Science Master's program at TU Ilmenau and has been working as a specialist in risk and crisis communication in Germany and internationally for more than five years.

More information: andreas.schwarz@tu-ilmenau.de

Research

We research various structural, content-related and social dimensions of strategic communication, including in the context of technology-oriented organizations. Our focus is on public relations & organizational communication, risk and crisis communication, communication with and about technologies, and international strategic communication.

ResearchTU Ilmenau
TeachingTU Ilmenau

Teaching

In the area of teaching, we deal as a field of expertise with the areas of public relations, crisis communication, international communication, communicator research as well as media change and social media.

Publications

PublicationsiStockphoto
  • Schwarz, A., Seeger, M., & Auer, C. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of international crisis communication research. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
    Schwarz, A., Schleicher, K., Srugies, A., & Rothenberger, L. (2017). Crisis communication of youth welfare offices in Germany: Findings on media coverage and strategic communication especially in the context of severe cases of child welfare endangerment. Ilmenau: Ilmenau University Press. 
    Schwarz, A. (2010). Crisis PR from a stakeholder perspective: The influence of attributions of cause and responsibility on organizational reputation. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. for the Social Sciences.

all publications

Team

The research group for Public Relations and Communication of Technology has been led on an interim basis since 04/2023 by Prof. Dr. Martin Löffelholz. The team consists of Dr. Andreas Schwarz, Francis Alpers andElisabeth U. Wagner-Olfermann. Melanie Waltinger currently supports as team assistant.

 
TeamAnLi Fotografie