Hamburg, 27.02.2025. The Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) in Hamburg will have a new director from March 2025: Prof. Dr. Judith Möller. This was decided by the Institute’s Board of Trustees on 20 January 2025. Judith Möller holds the professorship for Empirical Communication Research, especially Media Use and Social Media Effects, which the HBI established together with the Universität Hamburg. With this appointment, she will also become a member of the Board of Directors, which currently consists of Director Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz and Managing Director Kristina Hein.
“I am very much looking forward to working with Judith Möller on the Board,” says Wolfgang Schulz. “Her focus on usage and impact research continues a tradition of the institute, and her experience in cooperating with computer science and her international network are crucial for leading the institute into the future.”
Judith Möller: “At a time when media research is facing exciting and groundbreaking challenges, it is a great opportunity for me to actively shape the strategic development of the institute and to be able to set new impulses for research, practice and international cooperation. I look forward to pursuing forward-looking approaches in research and transfer together with all ‘Bredows’ in order to gain an even better understanding of the role of media in our society.”
Research in the Field of Automation and Artificial Intelligence to be Further Expanded
The Institute, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary in June 2025, plans to expand its research in automation and artificial intelligence in the coming years and to contribute to the understanding of socio-technical systems from a computer science perspective. This includes topics such as social media platforms, bots, search engines and recommendation systems, as well as the underlying technologies and architectures. The institute will receive an additional 10.3 million euros for this “strategic expansion project” between 2026 and 2029. In addition, the institute’s core budget will be permanently increased by €3.3 million from 2030. This was decided by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) on 22 November 2024 in Cologne.
Contact
Christiane Matzen, Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut,
Tel. +49 40 45 02 17 41
c.matzen@leibniz-hbi.de