Anna Neumaier

Anna Neumaier is a Junior Professorship for Religious Studies at Ruhr University Bochum, focusing on contemporary religiosity, secularization, and digital media. She leads the study area sociology of religion in the MA program Crossmedia Faith Communication and heads projects like REDiCON and Religious and Socio-Political Communication on TikTok. Her research blends theoretical and empirical approaches with methods such as digital ethnography and grounded theory.

Her education includes a PhD (summa cum laude, 2014) from Ruhr University Bochum and a Master’s (2007) in Cultural Studies, Religious Studies, and Musicology from the University of Bremen. She has been active in academic roles since 2014, including leadership in the Digital Religious Communication competence center (2018–2022) and research assistantships at the University of Bremen and Ruhr University Bochum.

Neumaier’s research explores qualitative studies of religion, particularly digital ethnography and discourse analysis, emphasizing how religious communities and authority structures evolve in digital spaces. Her recent peer-reviewed articles (2016–2022) highlight trends in Christian online communities, interreligious encounters, and religion’s role in public discourse. She advocates for innovative teaching concepts in religious education.

Scientific engagements include board membership in the German Association for the Study of Religion (DVRW) and editorial roles in Religion und Medien book series. Her career spans projects on interreligious media, religious plurality, and modern eschatology, supported by grants like the DFG-funded Identity in the face of religious plurality (2014–2018).

She has supervised academic projects and mentored junior researchers through the CERES Early Career Researchers' Program, contributing to networks like the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies. Her outreach includes media commentary on digital religious communication, Church responses to the pandemic, and religious discourse on social media.