I was awarded my doctoral degree in February 2018 at the University of Vienna and I am currently on maternity leave. Prior to my maternity leave, I was holding a post-doctoral research position at the Advertising and Media Effects Research Group (Chair: Prof. Dr. Jörg Matthes) of the Department of Communication at University of Vienna.

In my dissertation I studied the content and effects of sexualizing media on body image by applying a multi-disciplinary and multi-method approach. My work has been published in leading SSCI-ranked journals in the fields of communication research and psychology (e.g., Communication Research, Psychology of Women Quarterly, Media Psychology) and I received three competitive awards for my dissertation (ICA Kyoon Hur Dissertation Award, Austrian Award of Excellence, Sowi-Doc.Award). 

My research topics of interest are related to social media and smartphone use, media psychology (e.g., stereotypes, subjective wellbeing), and body image (e.g., self-objectification). I’m currently involved in research projects dealing with the consequences of smartphone use in children’s and adolescents’ everyday lives. Other research projects I am involved in focus on the effects of ideal media messages on social media on subjective wellbeing and behavior-related outcomes.