Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz

Scientific Director (Chairperson)

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz is director of the Leibniz Institute of Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). He is also a professor for “Media Law and Public Law including Theoretical Foundations” at the Faculty of Law at Universität Hamburg. Furthermore, he was appointed director at Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin in February 2012.

Wolfgang Schulz works on questions of communications constitutional law, media law and internet governance (with a focus on intermediaries), legal problems of algorithmic decision-making and the ethics of digitalization. He often works at the interface between law and other disciplines such as communication science and computer science and with a focus on the dimension of knowledge. He uses the functional comparison of different national approaches to solve problems. The transfer to politics at all levels (state, federal, EU, Council of Europe, UNESCO) plays an essential role in his work.

He was a member of the German Bundestag’s Enquete Commission “Internet and Digital Society” (2010 to 2013), Chairman of the Committee of Experts on Internet Intermediaries (MSI-NET) of the Council of Europe (2016-2017) and is Chairman of the Expert Committee “Communication and Information” of the German Commission for UNESCO (DUK) and thus also a member of the DUK Board. He also coordinates the Content Contact Group of the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network (INJ). Wolfgang Schulz is a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC). He is also head of the Board of Directors of the Hamburg-based citizens’ and educational channel TIDE and a member of the Board of Trustees of the #UseTheNews initiative.

Background

Wolfgang Schulz studied law and journalism in Hamburg. Since 1997, he has taught the optional special subject on information and communication in the Department of Law at Universität Hamburg. He has also been a member of the state office for legal examinations since January 2000. In July 2009, he habilitated at the Faculty of Law at Universität Hamburg and was granted Venia Legendi in public law, media law and legal philosophy. Since November 2011, Wolfgang Schulz has the university professorship at Universität Hamburg. It is a joint placement of the University of Hamburg and the Hans-Bredow-Institut. The focus of this professorship lies on research at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research. Initially, he acted as deputy managing director as well as head of the Hans-Bredow-Institut’s area of media and telecommunications law. Since 2001, he has been a member of the board of directors.

Contact information

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz

Scientific Director (Chairperson)

Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI)
Rothenbaumchaussee 36
20148 Hamburg
Germany

Last update: 04.07.2024

Works by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz

Symbolbild von rotunde

Coding Public Value

How can we develop software that is not only oriented towards business models, but also towards the common good, user interests, and media regulation? Coding Public Value (CPV) translates questions on media law into approaches and methods for a responsible software engineering.

Auf einem weißen Schreitisch liegen Tastatur, Handy und ein Kameraobjektiv
Projekt Pilot Project Computational Social Science

Journalistic Use of Information Environments Influenced by Algorithms

The pilot project in the field of computational social science used browser data donations to investigate how relevant the offerings of individual search engines and social media are in the everyday work of journalists.

Wandbild von Menschen mit Gepäck und Schriftzug "Made in Crisis"
Projekt BMBF Project

Communication in Times of Crisis

How do communications change in a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic? What role do actors from science, politics and the media take over? How do they deal with uncertainty from this situation? A project that reviewed existing studies and interviewed experts provided answers to this question.

Digitaler ahmmer au
Projekt Funded by Stiftung Mercator

Platform Democracy

How could "platform councils" or other institutions for integrating public interests into platform rule-making processes ensure that public interests and democratic values are taken into account? A new project is embarking on a search for global best practice models.

Mann auf Rolltreppe
Projekt BMBF Project

Media and Science Communication

How do scientific findings about journalistic media and social media get into the world? What criteria do science editors use to select topics? And what impact can scientific content have with it?

Blick vom Weltraum auf die nächtliche Erde mit Lichtspots
Projekt International Cooperation Project

Global Media and Internet Concentration

The international Global Media & Internet Concentration Project (GMICP) analyses communication, internet and media markets in nearly 40 countries. The HBI is responsible for collecting and reporting the data for Germany.

KI-generiertes Bild einer Schaufensterpuppe in sonniger Einkaufsstraße mit Passant*innen
Projekt Expert Opinion for the KJM

Labeling of Edited (Influencer) Photos

Must, should, may digitally edited photos in social media be labeled? On behalf of the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM), the HBI is investigating the necessity of a legal labeling requirement for edited photos and videos.

Buchcover "Sozialer Zusammenhalt vor Ort"
Publikation From the Research Institute Social Cohesion

Social Cohesion on the Ground

A new volume in the publication series of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) presents articles on the topic of "Local Social Cohesion". This includes an article by Jan-Hindrik Schmidt and Hannah Immler, both researchers at the FGZ's Hamburg site at the HBI, on Local Media Repertoires and Cohesion-Related Attitudes.

Cover of the Working Paper Trust in News Sources
Publikation Working Paper No. 71 Available for Download

Trust in Established News Sources

In Germany, trust in established news sources can best be explained by age: Older internet users tend to place more trust in the news than younger ones.

Cover of the dissertation
Publikation Dissertation Published!

Legal Protection through Decision Architectures

In his dissertation written at the HBI, Johannes Schmees deals with the state's use of algorithmic decision-making systems and its constitutional control. The entire work has now been published open access by Duncker und Humblot Verlag.

Publikationscover Übersetzung von politischen Beratungsdokumenten
Publikation Enabling Political Consulting

Theses on the Translation Performance of Advisory Documents at the Interface of Science and Policy

The thesis paper provides practical tips on how scientific consultation documents should be created and used.

Cover des Arbeitspapiers Reuters Report
Publikation Report available for download

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024

Surveys were conducted simultaneously in 47 countries in an international comparison to identify general trends as well as national peculiarities.

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