Special grant program for research questions with a focus on social sciences, law, culture or the humanities related to the pandemic (COVID-Call 2021) 

Project leader
Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin v. Gaudecker

Moritz Mendel

Information about the project
Experiences and memories shape macroeconomic expectations, which have a measurable impact on economic growth. We combine individual expectation data from the years 2020 and 2022, the latter of which were collected in this project. The two periods exhibit completely different patterns - there was hardly a reaction of inflation expectations in 2020, whereas there were large jumps in expectations regarding unemployment and GDP growth. The pattern is reversed in 2022. An analysis of individual patterns allows us to gain a deeper understanding of expectations formation and how it can be influenced.

• Hans-Martin von Gaudecker, Moritz Mendel, Rixt Swierstra: Huishoudens verwachtten in april hoge inflatie maar geen recessie, in: ESB (online , 01.09.2022)

Project leader
Dr. Thomas Grosse-Wilde
Dr. Laurence O`Hara

Gregor-Rafael Görgen (WHF)

From bank insolvency to viral infection to climate change - everywhere today one can ask: Why didn't the state prevent the disaster? For which adverse consequences should the state be responsible and which must it actively prevent?

• Conference (10./11.11.2022): ‚Zurechnung bei staatlichem Unterlassen‘

Project leader
Dr. Johanna Hartung

At the end of the pandemic, work concepts have become more diverse. This project investigates whether workers' well-being differs between home-office and office days while considering a number of potential factors (e.g., social interaction, commuting, type of tasks, age). The results can inform employers as well as employees about an optimal configuration of home-office regulations.

• Lecture with discussion (07.12.2022): 'Wohlbefinden zwischen Arbeitsplatz und Home-Office' (Dies Academicus)

• Hartung, J. & Hülür, G. (2022, September). Well-being in the third year of the pandemic: a daily diary study of home and office days among working people in Germany. In: Hartung, J. & Hülür, G. (Chair), Evidence from diverse German speaking samples on experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Symposium at the 52nd Congress of the German Psychological Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie, DGPs), Hildesheim, Germany.
• Stahlhofen, L., Hartung, J., Schilling, O., Wahl, H. W., & Hülür, G. (2022). The relevance of perceived work environment and work activities for personality trajectories in midlife. Journal of Personality.
• Hartung, J., Stahlhofen, L., Zacher, H., & Hülür, G. (2023). The role of work and retirement in adult development and aging. Acta Psychologica, 104076-104076.

Project leader
Dr. Julia Maria Mönig

Staff
Luis Nussbauer (WHF)
Evangelia Siopi (WHF)

Information about the project
The ways societies handled the COVID-19 pandemic from early 2020 on has shed light onto a topic that concerns us all: privacy. Having to use online meeting, learning and teaching software to be able to take part in social, school and work life, gave the providers of these services and products an even greater market power alongside with increased spying and surveillance opportunities into peoples’ daily lives. Opting-out of using these tools became impossible. Using smartphones that are ubiquitous listening devices anyhow for governmental Corona tracing did raise many data protection concerns, leading in several countries to trying to build “privacy by design”- applications and take ethical issues into consideration. The project undertakes an interdisciplinary reconsideration of privacy, asking how we do want our society to look like based on what we saw, experienced and hopefully learned from the current present and recent past.

• ‘Participation in the poster exhibition of the ‚Diversity Days 2022‘
  • Link to the poster
• Call for Abstracts (Deadline: 01.04.2022): ‘Rethinking Privacy after the Pandemic. Interdisciplinary Symposium (September 2022)
  • Symposium: ‚Rethinking Privacy‘ (15.-16. September 2022)

• Projecthomepage
• Abstract: Rethinking Privacy after this Pandemic
• Manifesto for the Future of Privacy

Project leader
Dr. Matthew R. Robinson

Staff
Elorm Nick Ahialey-Mawusi (WHK)
Lani Mireya Jiménez (WHK)

Information about the project
Digital communication settings have become one of the most important sources of information for the public, and for semantic and symbolic expressions of actual and expected, societal developments. On the basis of this observation, it seems likely that digital communication is a significant factor for social resilience. The project focused this hypothesis on religious communities and their “digital religious communications“ during the pandemic, in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the significance of those communications for the resilience of religious communities during the pandemic.

• SoSe 2023 (seminar): From Digital Religion to Digital Theology: Understanding Religion in a Technological Society
• SoSe 2023 (seminar): Applied digital theology – A hands-on journey through key aspects of digital theology

• Johannes Fröh & Matthew Ryan Robinson (2023) Digital Religious Communication and the Facilitation of Social Resilience, Part 2: Empirical Test of the Theoretical Model. A Study of the Twitter Activity of Ecumenical and Social Justice-Oriented Groups during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Journal of Religious & Theological Information.
• Johannes Fröh & Matthew Ryan Robinson (2023) Digital Religious Communication and the Facilitation of Social Resilience, Part 1: Theoretical Model and Proposal, Journal of Religious & Theological Information.

Project leader
Yvonne Scheit

Staff
Marcel Heinecke (WHF)
Lena Sevina Krzeminski (WHF)

Information about the project
Which digital technologies/media/formats do students at the University of Bonn use, how is this use perceived, and what difficulties are experienced? This involves taking a closer, systematic sociological look at what actually makes digital interaction so different, which makes it perceived as awkward by many students. In addition, what are the students' perspectives on the increasing digitization of the University of Bonn and, most importantly, how has all this changed as a result of Corona? The research project is a mixed methods study with panel design, based on three quantitative online surveys of students at the University of Bonn, interviews with students and expert interviews.

Events
Further information will follow.

Project leader
Dr. Lisa Schlielicke

How does the Corona pandemic affect the locations of social gatherings and does the weather influence the decisions where to meet. Results of the project can be used to add guidances to weather forecasts with respect to meetings and activities. This can help to counter social self-isolation in case of crisis situations such as a pandemic without violating restrictions.

• Schielicke, L., Bohmann, M., and Ertz, P.: Changes of social contacts due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the dependence on weather parameters, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-604.
• Bohmann, M., Ertz, P., Atakan, R., Esters, L. & Schielicke, L. (2023). Changes of social contacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and the dependence on weather parameters and air quality (submitted to Weather, Climate and Society)

Project leader
Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter
PD Christoph Ernst

Staff
Lea Klingberg (WHF)

Information about the project
The project describes and analyzes how information and data visualizations of the Corona pandemic work. The outcome of the project will be a better understanding of the modes by which information and data visualizations of the Corona pandemic are interpreted by the public. The goal is to produce a compact brochure that will inform interested members of the public about how such information and data visualizations work.

Project leader
Dominik Suri

Staff
Gremary Antonieta Aza Mengoa (WHF)
Karen Yessenia López García (WHF)

Information about the project
It is proposed that the COVID-19 pandemic has had and still has a negative impact on biodiversity conservation in the Global South. However, the idea is that community-based natural resource management approaches are key in mitigating this negative impact due to an inherent endowment of principles, such as the existence of and adherence to social norms, which increases the resilience of such approaches to cope with external shocks.

Events
Further information will follow.

Project leader
Prof. Dr. Caja Thimm
Yannik Peters
Patrick Nehls

Staff
Kathrin Simone Dupps (WHF)
Vimbai Cathrine Hühner (WHF)
Niklas Kärmer (SHK)
Lisa Melcher-Metzger (SHK)
Mariya Molodsha (SHK)
Joschua-Merlin Sachau (SHK)
Nicolas Wehner (SHK)

Information about the project
Further information will follow.

• Workshop (19.07.2022): 'Forschen mit Instagram-Daten: Werkstattbericht zu Möglichkeiten & Schwierigkeiten von Ansätzen der Computational Social Sciences' (durchgeführt von Dr. Lisa Merten, Hanna Immler M.A. und Philipp Kessling M.A., Hans-Bredow-Institut)

• SoSe 2022 (Seminar): Plattformen, Algorithmen und Co.: Der digitale Strukturwandel von Öffentlichkeit 
• WiSe 2022/23 (Seminar): Empirische Medienforschung I
• SoSe 2023 (Seminar): Die Plattformgesellschaft
• WiSe 2023/24 (Seminar): Empirische Medienforschung I
• WiSe 2023/24 (Seminar): Empirische Medienforschung II 
• SoSe 2024 (Seminar): Gekränkte Freiheit, Triggerpunkte, digitaler Kapitalismus – Aktuelle soziologische Gegenwartsdiagnosen und die Rolle der Medien

• Thimm, Caja (2022): Herausforderung digitale Gesellschaft:  Plädoyer für eine digitale Werteordnung. Digitale Diskurse zwischen Partizipation und Konfrontation. In: weiter bilden. Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung,4,  S. 25-29.
• Thimm, Caja/Nehls, Patrick/Peters, Yannik (2022): Digitale Methoden im Überblick. In: Baur, Nina/Blasius, Jörg (Hrsg.), Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung, 3. Auflage, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, S. 1267-1280.
• Thimm, Caja (2022). Fake News and the Corona Crisis in Germany: Public Broadcasting Counter Strategies on Instagram/Fake News et la crise de la Corona en Allemagne : Stratégies de contre-attaque des médias publics sur Instagram. Revue des Interactions Humaines Médiatisées, Volume 23 (1), 55-72.
• Thimm, Caja (2023). 'Doing Family' auf Instagram - private Medienpraxen und ethische Grenzziehungen. In Patrick Nehls & Caja Thimm (Hrsg.), Digitale Kulturen – Digitale Praktiken. Zugänge zur tiefgreifenden Mediatisierung (S. 211-239). Lit.
• Peters, Y., Nehls, P. & Thimm, C. (2023): Plattformforschung mit Instagram-Daten – Eine Übersicht über analytische Zugänge, digitale Erhebungsverfahren und forschungsethische Perspektiven in Zeiten der APIcalypse. Publizistik. Open Access.
• Peters, Yannik/Nehls, Patrick/Thimm, Caja (2023): Plattformforschung mit Instagram-Daten – Eine Übersicht über analytische Zugänge, digitale Erhebungsverfahren und forschungsethische Perspektiven in Zeiten der APIcalypse. Publizistik, 68(2-3).