Dominik Speck has been a research assistant at the Chair of International Journalism since 2018 and coordinates the institute's Erasmus partnerships. Dominik Speck was awarded the teaching prize for his leadership of study trips at the Institute of Journalism, in which he combines theory and practice with particularly impressive experiences. During the excursions, students gain valuable experience in foreign reporting and produce their own journalistic articles. These are then published in the TU campus media or by media companies such as WDR, among others.

France (2019), Romania (2023), Cyprus (2024), and Poland (2025) – previous study trips have taken Dominik Speck and his seminar groups to European regions with specific challenges for journalists. Each of these excursions focuses on a specific topic, which the students prepare for in a block seminar – such as flight and migration. During the trips themselves, the students visit partner universities, talk to foreign correspondents about their work, or exchange ideas with local civil society organizations. The courses were financially supported by PROMOS, the program of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The nomination for the teaching award was supported in particular by IJ professor Susanne Fengler and the journalism student council.

Jakob Henke was a research assistant at the Chairs of Online and Print Journalism (Wiebke Möhring) and Television and Cross-Media Journalism (Michael Steinbrecher) from 2016 to 2023. In his dissertation entitled “News in the Eye of the Beholder: The Selection Process from the Perspective of Users,” Henke develops a theoretical model of the news selection process in the digital space. In doing so, he took into account both communication science selection theories and more general psychological theories and models of judgment and decision-making. In addition, he succeeded in empirically examining parts of the model in three studies. “The work conveys to a high degree and throughout the pursuit of methodologically sound and exceptionally conscientious transparent work,” said IJ professor and thesis supervisor Wiebke Möhring. “Not only is the doctoral thesis and the scientific achievement excellent overall, but the years of collaboration have also been incredibly enjoyable.”