About the Department

What we stand for:

The Department of Communication Studies at the University of Salzburg pursues a broad, critically oriented, interdisciplinary approach. Our research and teaching in German and English is theory-based, longitudinal and internationally comparative. Our work makes a significant contribution to the analysis, explanation and critical debate of a society shaped by diverse communication cultures and digital networks.

We conduct fundamental, applied and contract research. With our study programs, we offer a general basic education (Bachelor), two focussed postgraduate degrees (Master) as well as an in-depth doctoral programme.

We publish in academic peer-reviewed journals, monographs, edited volumes and handbooks as well as in textbooks for students. Furthermore, we adhere to our third mission by publishing in newspapers, journals and online media addressing a general public, and we embrace new digital forms of publication. We are committed to the open access standard.

Our lectures, conferences and workshops contribute to the development of our discipline and we contribute to pressing socio-, media- and cultural-political debates.The main subject areas of the Department are Journalism, Digitalization and Society, Communication Theories, Organizational Communication, Media Use and Consumption, Media Economics, Communication Policy, Public Sphere and Inequalities, Gender Media Studies, Inequality Studies, Inter-/Transcultural Communication, Interpersonal Communication, as well as pre-professional training in our media laboratories.

Who we address:

Stakeholders of the Department of Communication Studies are students, the national and international academic community, the community of communication professionals, the general public, decision makers in the domains of business, politics and culture, and civil society writ large.

How we work together:

We collaborate in flat hierarchies. Within the Faculty of Social Sciences, a departmental structure enables internal specialization as well as cross-departmental cooperation in research and teaching.Our collaborative approach supports and promotes different academic career models: each Division in our Department has positions for postdoc- and/or prae-doc students. We enable students to participate in research and teaching based on assistant- and tutorships. We promote and support the academic career goals of our academic staff, such as a doctorate or habilitation.

What we want to achieve: The Department of Communication Studies aims at comprehensive basic education and solid academic qualifications. We want to equip students with all the necessary skills for various professions in communication studies and communication practice.In our research, we strive for social, political, cultural and academic relevance addressing a variety of publics. With our critical research approach and empirical findings, we seek to contribute to and complement disciplinary development as well as current socio-political debates.On a global scale, we want to contribute responsibly to international cooperations, initiate such collaborations ourselves and receive international appreciation due to our valued research practices and our teaching, strengthening the reputation of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Salzburg.

How we want to achieve our goals:

We seek to achieve our goals through outstanding scientific research on pressing social topics, and through high-quality and research-led teaching in our study programs on the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral level.