Florian Arendt

Florian Arendt is an Associated Professor of Health Communication at the University of Vienna's Institute of Journalism and Communication Science within the Faculty of Social Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna (2013) and previously served as a postdoctoral researcher at LMU Munich. His research focuses on health communication, particularly suicide prevention, media effects on health behaviors, and global health disparities. Arendt has published over 90 articles in top-tier journals such as Communication Research and Journal of Health Communication.

Research interests include optimizing public health campaigns, digital health divides, quality of health news, and media stereotypes. He combines communication science with public health perspectives, investigating topics like vaccination, depression, and substance abuse. Notable projects examine the Papageno effect in social media, algorithmic disparities in suicide information access, and historical media portrayals of suicide.

Educational background: Ph.D. in Communication (University of Vienna, 2013), postdoctoral position at LMU Munich's Department of Media and Communication (2013–2018). Current role since 2018 involves teaching health communication and leading interdisciplinary research projects.

Grant activities include funding for studies on suicide reporting quality, digital divide impacts, and AI-driven health communication. His work emphasizes practical applications, such as advising journalists on responsible suicide reporting and evaluating search engine algorithms for crisis information equity.