Katharine Sarikakis

Katharine Sarikakis is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Social Sciences, where she holds a professorship in the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies. She serves as Director of the Media Governance and Industries Research Lab and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for Communication, Fact and Regulation for Europe (FREuDe). Her work spans European media policy, governance frameworks, and the intersection of technology, human rights, and social change.

Professor Sarikakis's research focuses on transformation, decision-making processes, and power relations in media governance. Her work encompasses the empirical and theoretical development of the concept of "media governance" through the study of institutions, regulatory frameworks, and the role of civic engagement and ethics at the European and global levels. From the object-specific perspective of governance, her work examines areas of data protection, hate speech, audiovisual cultures, including the role of archives, and disinformation within the context of human rights and civil liberties. Her research also incorporates feminism and gender in an integrative way. She advocates a transdisciplinary approach, collaborating with international organizations such as the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and European freedom of expression organizations.

Her recent scholarly output shows a consistent focus on media governance, European integration, and the political economy of communication. A significant thread throughout her work examines how digital transformation and policy frameworks impact social cohesion, cultural diversity, and democratic processes. Her publications increasingly address the challenges of platform governance, data protection, and the reconfiguration of public spheres in the digital age, while maintaining her longstanding commitment to gender perspectives in media policy analysis.

• European Award for Excellence for Teaching in the Humanities and Social Sciences
• University of Vienna Teaching Award (2018)
• Nominated for Austrian State Award in Excellence for Teaching (2019)

Professor Sarikakis actively supervises MA and PhD students, with particular interest in PhD projects addressing core areas of media governance. She employs the Socratic method in her teaching, integrating personal and social experience with academic inquiry. Her supervision approach emphasizes self-reflection as a tool for developing knowledge and connects scholarly work to real-world social contexts. She has contributed to major journals in the field and has served as co-editor of the Journal of Media and Cultural Politics since its inception.

As Director of the Media Governance and Industries Research Lab, Professor Sarikakis leads a team focused on empirical and theoretical research on media governance frameworks. The lab examines power relations, decision-making processes, and institutional structures shaping media systems at European and global levels. Her research group collaborates with international organizations and contributes to policy debates on media freedom, pluralism, and cultural diversity.