معرفی
Sarah-Michelle Nienhaus serves as a Researcher in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf's Faculty of Philosophy, a position she has held since April 2021. Affiliated with the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy (DIID), she actively contributes to academic discourse through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), and International Communication Association (ICA).
Her academic foundation includes a B.A. in Social Sciences (Media, Politics, Society; 2014-2018) and M.A. in Political Communication (2018-2021), both from HHU, complemented by a semester at Università di Bologna (February-July 2020).
- B.A. Social Sciences – Media, Politics, Society (HHU, 2014-2018)
- M.A. Political Communication (HHU, 2018-2021)
- Study Abroad: Università di Bologna (02-07/2020)
Her research centers on Political Communication with specialized expertise in Deliberation Research and Framing analysis. She investigates how political discourse operates within parties and media ecosystems, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Her methodological approach combines content analysis with systemic frameworks to evaluate deliberative quality and partisan communication dynamics. Current doctoral work focuses on intraparty debate styles, developing analytical tools to decode communication properties through interactive modes.
Publication trends (2018-2024) demonstrate evolving focus from pandemic crisis framing to intricate intraparty communication structures. Early work analyzed media-political framing comparisons during COVID-19 waves, while recent scholarship pioneers factionalism frameworks and intraparty communication properties. German political contexts dominate her empirical work, employing qualitative and comparative methods across parliamentary debates, media reports, and online deliberation platforms.
Nienhaus actively shapes academic discourse through conference presentations at ICA, ECREA, and DGPuK events, including the Düsseldorfer Forum Politische Kommunikation (2019, 2020). Her teaching portfolio includes courses on political communication analysis, content methodology, German media systems, and foundational communication theory. Collaborative work with the DIID and cross-institutional research teams drives her investigation into digital democracy and political discourse evolution.
