Dr. Sophia C. Volk received the Dissertation Award of the International and Intercultural Communication Division of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) on October 27, 2022. The award was presented during the annual congress and was sponsored by the Ludwig Delp Foundation. The jury judged the work, which was produced at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University under the supervision of Professor Ansgar Zerfass, to be an outstanding piece of research in the field of international communication.
The study, entitled "Comparative Communication Research: A Study of the Conceptual, Methodological, and Social Challenges of International Collaborative Studies in Communication Science," was published by Springer VS in 2021. Sophia Volk addresses the question of what methodological and social challenges arise in international research teams in comparative communication research and what solution strategies exist. The study substantiates a theoretical and empirical research gap and shows what consequences the increase in internationally collaborative, comparative research has for the discipline and for knowledge production. In addition, Sophia Volk also reflects on implications for research practice and develops a process and phase model for comparative communication research.
Sophia Volk's book has already been reviewed in Publizistik (in German) and Global Media Journal (in English). In her book review in Publizistik, Christine Horz-Ishak concludes: "The author has indeed achieved great things for the communication discipline and comparative research in particular, because it is to be expected that her study can contribute to the systematization and establishment of international comparative communication research – in theoretical, empirical, and practical terms. The suggestions for improvement of research practice can make an important contribution to the cosmopolitanization of comparative communication studies. The book is a must-read for anyone doing research in the field, especially those taking on leadership roles for the first time."
The book is available via Springer link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-36228-7 as well as in bookstores: ISBN 978-3-658-36227-0
The book reviews are available at:
Horz-Ishak, C. (2022). Sophia Charlotte Volk: Comparative Communication Research: A Study of the Conceptual, Methodological, and Social Challenges of International Collaborative Studies in Communication Science. Publizistik, 68(4). doi.org/10.1007/s11616-022-00753-9
Wöhlert, R. (2022). Volk, Sophia C. (2021). Comparative Communication Research. A study of the Conceptual, Methodological, and Social Challenges of International Collaborative Studies in Communication Science. Global Media Journal - German Edition, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.22032/dbt.53032
Sophia Volk worked as a research associate at the Chair of Strategic Communication at Leipzig University from October 2015 to July 2021. The dissertation, which was funded by the German National Academic Foundation, was supervised by Professor Dr. Ansgar Zerfass. Second examiner was Professor Dr. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz from the University of Bremen. Since August 2021, Sophia Volk has been a senior research and teaching associate in the Science Communication Division at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. She researches and teaches on strategic science communication, digital media environments, international research collaborations, communication and media management, and the evaluation and impact measurement of communication. s.volk(at)ikmz.uzh.ch