News

From September 8 to 11, the 11th Conference of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) will take place in Brno (Czech Republic). The conference’s theme is “Paths, Connections, and Futures.” Numerous ZeMKI members will present their research.

A new study by Kim Lisa Ermler and her co-authors examines how German news media portray “trustworthy AI” and assign responsibility for it. The findings reveal tensions between challenging existing power asymmetries and legitimizing certain actors as providers of trustworthy technologies.

On August 14, 2026, ZeMKI member Dr. Adio-Adet Dinika appeared as a guest on the 74th episode of Rebecca Mbaya’s interview series “The African Innovators Series.” The title of the interview is “Dr. Adio-Adet Dinika on the Labor AI Refuses to Name.”

The PGMT Lab welcomes EMILDAI master's students Mauricio Dal Pozzo Schneider and Nataly Garcia Alvarado for a summer research stay.

ZeMKI member Dr. Adio-Adet Dinika was a guest on Dr. Anita Nowak’s podcast “Purposeful Empathy,” discussing the topic “The Hidden Exploitation (and Trauma) Behind AI.”

A new article co-authored by Prof. Christian Katzenbach and international colleagues has been published in AI & Society. Analyzing AI controversies across four countries between 2012 and 2022, the study reveals a major shift from "deep", situated AI frictions to "wide", abstract controversies surrounding Generative AI.

We are happy to share that our lab member, Rebecca Scharlach, was invited to write a commentary on the paper "The dark side of public values in algorithmic systems".

The ECREA European Doctoral Summer School is currently taking place from August 3 to 9 at Södertörn University in Stockholm. ZeMKI member Prof. Christian Schwarzenegger is participating as a lecturer and discussant. In addition to providing feedback on several European dissertation projects, he is also offering a workshop on working with qualitative data. Patrick Frey and Luisa Runge are presenting their own dissertation projects and receiving feedback from international experts.

A new article by Luisa Runge, Christian Katzenbach, and Miira Hill has just been published in Feminist Media Studies. Examining TikTok’s community guidelines and corporate communication, the study reveals how the platform's progressive narratives of empowerment often clash with ambiguous policies that obscure the structural dimensions of sexism.

On the afternoon of 8 July 2026, members of ZeMKI gathered at Linzer Straße 4 for the ZeMKI Research Day 2026. This internal event format provides a forum for presenting ongoing projects from the eleven ZeMKI Labs, discussing methodological issues and bringing together perspectives across the boundaries of the individual Labs.

On 8 July 2026, the ZeMKI Research Day at the Linzer Straße 4 site segued directly into the ZeMKI Summer Party. Following the day’s academic programme, the discussions moved outdoors and continued there in an informal setting.

This week the AI PAN-AFRICANISM consortium gathered in Bremen to kick-off a joint research and advocacy initiative on Pan-African AI governance.