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Project staff

Prof. Dr.

Christian P. Hoffmann

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+49 341 97-35061

Christian Hoffmann is professor for Communication Management at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies and for Political Communication at the Institute for Political Science at Leipzig University.

Research Focus:

  • Online communication
  • Financial communication
  • Political communication

Scientific works by Christian Hoffmann concentrate on (political) online participation, privacy, online trust and cynicism. Within the context of online trust and cynicism he focuses on digital inequality to investigate how socioeconomic variables interact with digital media use and how such socioeconomic effects are mediated by those cognitive dispositions.


Alexander Godulla is professor for Empirical Communication and Media Research at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University. His main areas of research are the reception and effect research of media content on audiences.

Research focus:

  • International journalism research
  • Technological impact assessment in public communication
  • Visual communication research

In the past, Alexander Godulla already conducted research on fake image content in journalism as well as on how to identify said content. Additionally, he has published scientific works on the effects of para-social interactions with fictional and real media characters  on humans,as well as fundamental research on deepfakes.

Prof. Dr.

Alexander Godulla

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+49 341 97-35742


M.A.

Daniel Bendahan Bitton

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+49 341 97-35765

Daniel Bendahan Bitton is employed as a research associate at the institute of Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University. He manages the project "Audio visual media content based on artificial intelligence: analysis of challenges and potentials of deepfakes in the network of science, economy and society". In his dissertation, Daniel Bendahan Bitton focuses on influencing factors that may favor audience identification of manipulated audiovisual media content and on how audiences evaluate deepfakes, as well as,  in particular, possible beneficial, future applications.

Research focus:

  • Technological impact assessment
  • Media effect research
  • Science communication

Student assistants

Louisa Marko

Kilian Buchmann

Hannah Ötting

Further employed in the project are Louisa Marko, Kilian Buchmann, and Hannah Ötting. The three students are enrolled in various programs at Leipzig University’s institute of communication and media studies. Louisa Marko just finished her bachelor's thesis in the field of strategic communication, continuing a focus set throughout her bachelor's in Communication and Media Studies, on communication management. Kilian Buchman, a Communication and Media Studies master's student, researched media competence and appropriation practices in his final bachelor's thesis. Finally, Hannah Ötting is currently finishing up her last semester of the double-degree master's program Global Mass Communication and Journalism. She is writing her thesis in the field of journalism research, specifically focusing on protest coverage.


The Deepfake Project