IfK graduate Anke Oßwald receives the dissertation prize of the DGPuK PR and Organisational Communication specialist group

(06.11.24) IfK graduate Anke Oßwald's dissertation entitled ‘Public Relations and Decision. On the communicative form of PR in the digital age’ has been awarded the dissertation prize of the PR and Organisational Communication section of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies. The award ceremony took place as part of the specialist group conference on 31 October 2024 in Berlin.

According to Dr Sophia Volk, spokesperson for the specialist group, ‘the jury was particularly impressed by the topicality of the subject matter, the pronounced degree of reflection in the work and the soundness and conciseness of the argumentation. It is an extremely inspiring work that provides numerous impulses for the future discussion on digital technologies and AI for PR and organisational communication.’

In her work, Anke Oßwald discusses the massive process of change facing the communications industry and PR research in a differentiated and sophisticated manner. Based on systems theory considerations, she addresses the question of how the involvement of digital technologies in PR can be theoretically differentiated and how a well-founded understanding of automated PR can be formulated on this basis.

Anke Oßwald wrote her thesis at the Department of Communication under the supervision of Prof Dr Ulrike Röttger and was awarded summa cum laude. The second assessor was Prof Dr Kerstin Thummes from the University of Greifswald. The process was finalised in July of this year.

The specialist group awards the dissertation prize every two years in recognition of outstanding dissertations in the field of PR and organisational communication.

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