Joachim Allgaier

Biography

Joachim Allgaier, Dipl.-Soz., Ph.D. is a sociologist and media and communications researcher. He is Professor for Communication and Digital Society at the Department of Nutritional, Food and Consumer Sciences of Fulda University of Applied Sciences.

Previously he was senior researcher at the Chair of Technology and Society at the Human Technology Center (HumTec) of RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Before that, he was a researcher at the Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics and Social Sciences of Health (ceres), based at the University of Cologne, Germany and senior scientist and deputy director of the Department of Science, Technology and Society Studies of the Alpen-Adria-Universität in Klagenfurt, Austria. Before that, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Helmholtz Research Center Jülich in Germany and the Department of Science and Technology Studies of the University of Vienna in Austria, and also a researcher the Open University in the UK, where he was awarded a PhD in sociology.

In addition, he was honorary fellow at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, invited visiting researcher at the Department of Health and Social Studies at Østfold University College in Norway, and sponsored fellow at the International School of Science Journalism and Science Communication of the Ettore Majorana Centre in Erice, Italy.

He studied sociology, social psychology and intercultural communication at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich in Germany, and Science and Technology Studies and Cultural Studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Joachim has taught courses at RWTH Aachen University, AAU Klagenfurt, the University of Vienna, LMU Munich and organised workshops, conferences and other events at various universities and other institutions in Europe. He is co-founder of the International Interdisciplinary Research Network Navigating Knowledge Landscapes that conducts research on health in the digital society.

Joachim is researching how digital and technological change affects various areas and aspects of society. Here, he is particularly interested in science, research, technology and health communication and public participation (e.g. citizen science; living labs; open science and open innovation). He studies how communication and cooperation in research and innovation is taking place among peers and between various experts and publics, and what changes are occurring here today. A further research interest concerns how scientific, technology and health issues are communicated in public, how they are represented in the media, the Internet and in popular culture, and how various publics perceive them. He is currently researching how science, technology and health issues and topics are communicated via online video-sharing platforms and in social networks, in journalistic media and popular and entertainment culture.