Caroline von Samson-Himmelstjerna

Caroline von Samson-Himmelstjerna serves as a Research Associate at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies within Freie Universität Berlin's Department of Political and Social Sciences since April 2017. Her work bridges academic research and practical communication, leveraging extensive professional experience in journalism and public relations to investigate strategic health and risk communication contexts.

Her educational foundation includes a Magister Artium in Media and Communication Studies from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and Freie Universität Berlin, enriched by international academic experiences across the USA, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain.

Research focuses critically on emotional appeals in health campaigns, empowerment frameworks, and crisis preparedness, with notable exploration of neurotransmitter responses to fear appeals and public compliance with health guidelines. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates communication science with neuroscience, public health, and crisis management, particularly examining how values and emotions shape responses to antibiotic resistance and chronic disease management.

Publication trends reveal consistent engagement with methodological rigor in content analysis while progressively incorporating neuroscientific perspectives. Recent work demonstrates growing emphasis on digital media's role in health self-management and the psychological mechanisms underlying persuasive health communication.

She contributes to major DFG-funded initiatives including the DISELMA research unit on digital media in chronic disease self-management and the IMRESS project within InfectControl2020. Current constraints prevent thesis supervision as she is temporarily away from the university.

As core faculty in the Organizational Communication research group, she participates in collaborative projects analyzing public responses to health crises, campaign effectiveness across media platforms, and the ethical dimensions of risk communication in participatory digital environments.