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Sonja Utz
Full professor for communication via social media at University of Tübingen
Leader of the Everyday Media Lab at Leibniz Institut für Wissensmedien

Research interests

  • social media use in professional settings
  • informal learning with social media
  • (para)social processes
  • algorithm acceptance
  • human-machine communication

Link to my full CV

Check my work on:

You can also find me on bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sonja-utz.de

or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjautz/

NEWS

  • Call for papers – special issue on Users’ mental models regarding large language models
    I am co-editing a special issue at Technology, Mind & Behavior.Deadline October 15, 2026 – early submissions welcome! More information here: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/tmb/users-mental-models-large-language-models.html
  • Lab Visit in Salamanca (March/April 2025)
    I’m visiting professor at the Democracy Research Unit in Salamanca, working with Homero Gil de Zuniga. I’m interested in bringing work on ambient awareness and news-finds-me perspective together, since both address knowledge-related effects from skimming social media posts. Another topic is AI use for politics/news and related credibility issues. I …

    Continue reading “Lab Visit in Salamanca (March/April 2025)”

  • Top Dissertation Award
    My former PhD student Lara Wolfers (now University of Amsterdam) received the Top Dissertation Award of the Mobile Communication Division of ICA for her Dissertation on “Stress Management and Coping Using Smartphone by Mothers of Young Children”. Congrats!
  • Post-Doc position
    I’m looking for a post-doc starting in October. Background in media psychology, communication science, or a related discipline and interest in knowledge-related social/mobile media use. Help with PhD supervision welcome (see the last three job ads). For more experienced people, the position can be E-14 Tv-L (deputy lab head) https://www.iwm-tuebingen.de/www/de/karriere/stellenangebote/anzeige.html?kind=wissenschaftlich#ausschreibung1011-2023
  • Applications for project on algorithmic bias still possible!
    Hiring PhDs for this project has been until I decided whether I take another job offer. It will be re-advertized soon with a new number, but it’s still possible to apply to this job ad: https://www.iwm-tuebingen.de/www/de/karriere/stellenangebote/anzeige.html?kind=wissenschaftlich#ausschreibung1016-2022 Background in #socialpsychology, #communicationscience or related discipline, experience with conducting #experiments