Dr. Dorothee Arlt

Academic career and education

since July 2021: research assistant at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at the Ilmenau University of Technology 

2013 – 2021: post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern, head of the research project "Political Instrumentalization of the Islam?" within the interdisciplinary research cooperation "Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies" (2018-2021)

2017 (spring term): visiting Professor (Vertretungsprofessur) for the Assistant Professorship Political Communication at the Institute for Communication Science and Media Research, University of Zurich  

2013: Doctoral Thesis on "Extension the operating life time of nuclear power plants - No, thank you!?  A communication study on the influence of media communication on attitudes towards nuclear power"

2009 – 2013: research assistant and doctoral candidate at the department Empirical Media Research/Political Communication at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at Ilmenau University of Technology, head of the social science sub-project within the interdisciplinary research project "RESIDENS" (2009-2012)

2007 – 2009: Research assistant in the department of Media Conception/Media Psychology at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at Ilmenau University of Technology,

2007: Diplom-Thesis on “Unreachability in mobile communication. A media-psychological experimental study on SMS communication”

2001 – 2007: Studies of "Applied Media Science" at the Institute of Media and Communication Science at the Ilmenau University of Technology

Section and network activities

Since 2019: Member of the DFG-funded network "Media Trust in the Digital World”

2018 – 2021: Deputy spokesperson of the "Political Communication" section of the Swiss Society for Communication and Media Studies

2013 – 2017: Vice-Chair of the Working Group "Environment, Science and Risk Communication" of the International Association for Media and Communication Research

2017 – 2019: Mentee in the Gertrude J. Robinson Mentoring Programme of the DGPuK

2014 – 2015: Mentee in the Mentoring Programme of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Bern

Member of scientific societies DGPuK, ICA, SGKM, ECREA

Newest publications:

Arlt, D. (2024). In a reciprocal relationship? Examining the development and relationship between media trust and satisfaction with the government’s Coronavirus policy in Germany over time. Studies in Communication|Media, 13(1), 46-71. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2024-1-46

Schaller, S., Arlt, D., & Wolling, J. (2024). Agenda-Setting Effects During Times of Social Disruption: The Influence of Mass Media and Personal Experiences on Societal Concerns. International Journal of Communication, 18, 1537–1560 https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20884/4523

Arlt. D., Zang, A. M., & Wolling, J. (2024). Die Energiewende in der Realität und in den Medien aus Sicht der Bevölkerung. Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Befragung im Sommer 2023. doi.org/10.22032/dbt.58541

Arlt, D., Schumann, C., & Wolling, J. (2023). What does the public know about technological solutions for achieving carbon neutrality? Citizens' knowledge of energy transition and the role of media. Frontiers in Communication, 8, 1-13. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1005603

Adam, S., Urman, A., Arlt, D., Gil-Lopez, T., Makhortykh, M., & Maier, M. (2023). Media Trust and the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Short-Term Trust Changes, Their Ideological Drivers and Consequences in Switzerland. Communication Research, 50(2), 205 –229. doi.org/10.1177/00936502221127484

Schumann, C., & Arlt, D. (2023). When citizens get fed up. Causes and consequences of issue fatigue – Results of a two-wave panel study during the coronavirus crisis. Communications - the European Journal of Communication Research, 48(1), 130-153. doi.org/doi:10.1515/commun-2021-0014

Valli, C., Eugster, B., & Arlt, D. (2023). The More Sophisticated, the More Biased? Testing a New Measure of Political Sophistication on Biased Information Processing. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 35(4), edad037. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edad037

Arlt, D., Wolling, J., Schaller, S., & Schumann, C. (2023). Die politische Krise der Corona-Pandemie und die Rolle der Medien. Erkenntnisse aus Aggregat- und Individualdatenanalysen. Media Perspektiven(7), 1-13.

Arlt, D., Schaller, S., & Sultanova, S. (2023). Mit der Energiewende gegen den Klimawandel? Eine Typologie auf Grundlage von Wissen und Einstellungen zur Energiewende In J. Wolling, M. Becker, & C. Schumann (Eds.), Klima(wandel)kommunikation: Im Spannungsfeld von Wissenschaft, Medien und öffentlicher Meinung (pp. 59-79). Univ.-Verl. Ilmenau. doi.org/10.22032/dbt.55228

Here you can find my complete list of publications and presentations

Forschungsschwerpunkte / Main areas of research

• science, energy and climate communication online and offline
• political communication online and offline
• media reception and effects research
• media perceptions/ media trust

Forschungsprojekte / research projects

• part of the speaker committee in the interdisciplinary research project VERNEDCT, which is founded by the Carl Zeiss Stiftung, and head of the communication science work packages (2023-2029)
• research assistant in the BMBF-funded project "Science Communication Energy Transition" (2021-2024)
• part of the joint research project „The Relevance of Communication during Corona Crises“ by the Media Research and Political Communication Group (since 2020)
• “Political Instrumentalization of Islam? Framing the Burqa as a Threat to National Values and Security in Switzerland and its Consequences” (2018-2022): Interdisciplinary research project within the interfaculty research cooperation „Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies“ at the University of Bern
• Die Flüchtlingsdebatte in den Medien aus Sicht der Bevölkerung (2016-2020): Survey project together with Prof. Dr Jens Wolling (TU Ilmenau) as well as Prof. Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen and Dr. Tanja Evers (KU Eichstätt)
• Laufzeitverlängerung von Atomkraftwerken - Nein, Danke!? (Doktoral Thesis, 2010-2013)
• RESIDENS-Projekt [Effizientere Energienutzung durch systemtechnische Integration des privaten Endverbrauchers] (2009-2012): interdisciplinary research project in cooperation with the Department of Electrical Power Supply of the Ilmenau University of Technology, two Fraunhofer-Instituts, and the Stadtwerke Ilmenau
• Steigerung der Energieeffizienz durch Einsatz einer innovativen Verbraucherschnittstelle (2008): interdisciplinary research project in cooperation with the Departments Electrical Power Supply and Automotive Engineering of the Ilmenau University of Technology

My teaching repertoire includes lectures and seminars in which basic concepts, theoretical approaches and fields of application on the content as well as the reception and impact of media-mediated communication are dealt with. Furthermore, I hold methodological and research seminars that focus on the practical research application of theoretical approaches and empirical methods to answer concrete research questions together with the students.