Michaela Kramer

Michaela Kramer serves as Junior Professor at the University of Cologne, specializing in media education with a focus on visual methodologies and adolescent development within digital contexts. Her academic work bridges educational theory, media studies, and biographical research, with particular attention to how youth navigate digital platforms and construct identities through visual media.

• University of Hamburg (2010-2013): Doctoral studies in Bildungstheorie und empirische Bildungsforschung
• Leuphana University of Lüneburg (2006-2010): Studies in Bildungswissenschaften

Dr. Kramer's research centers on the intersection of visual culture, digital media, and educational processes, particularly examining how adolescents engage with social media platforms through visual self-representation and narrative construction. Her work explores biographical processes in digital environments, analyzing how smartphone photography and social media usage shape memory practices and identity formation among youth. She investigates critical issues including media literacy, digital sovereignty, and ethical challenges in contemporary media landscapes, with recent work addressing antifeminist content on TikTok and youth perspectives on sustainability.

Her publication record demonstrates a clear trajectory toward increasingly interdisciplinary work that combines educational theory with media studies, visual methodology, and biographical research. The most recent publications (2023-2025) show heightened focus on postdigital contexts, artificial intelligence's impact on narrative practices, and the educational implications of emerging media platforms. Her research consistently employs qualitative, visual, and biographical methodologies to understand youth media practices in depth.

• Barbara Budrich Posterpreis (2020) in collaboration with the German Society for Educational Science
• University of Hamburg Doctoral Completion Scholarship (2019)
• MEDIUS Prize for innovative, scientific, and practice-oriented theses (2014)

As a Junior Professor, Dr. Kramer leads research projects including "Expanding Narratives. Youth and Their Images of Sustainability" which examines how adolescents perceive and negotiate sustainability narratives in social media. She has collaborated on the "DiBiGa – Future Perspectives for Digital Education in Primary School Age" project, focusing on participatory research methods with children. Her work frequently addresses the challenges of digital education in primary schools, particularly in the context of pandemic-related distance learning, and explores the ethical dimensions of digital media in educational settings.