Prof. Dr. Sarah Geber

Prof. Sarah Geber has been Professor of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Mannheim since August 2025. 

She studied and earned her doctorate at the University of Music, Drama, and Media in Hanover and habilitated at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) in 2024. From 2011 to 2018, she worked as a research assistant in Hanover, then as a senior assistant and lecturer (research) in Zurich. In 2019, she took on a substitute professorship at the University of Mannheim. Research stays also took her to George Washington University (USA) and the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands).
Sarah Geber's research focuses on social and algorithmic influences in digital media environments. Her work centers on:
•    the influence of social media on the risk behavior of young people (e.g. alcohol consumption),
•    the role of social norms in the context of mobile media use (e.g., accessibility norms vs. digital disconnection),
•    the role of news media in communicating social prevention norms in times of crisis (e.g., pandemics, climate change).

Sarah Geber currently heads the Swiss National Science Foundation-funded research project “Alternative Media, Alternative Norms?”, which investigates the extent to which alternative media contribute to the rejection of social prevention norms in the context of climate change. She is also co-founder and co-editor of the European Journal of Health Communication.

Sarah Geber teaches bachelor's and master's courses in communication science, with a particular focus on media reception and media effects research. Her work focuses on imparting theoretical and empirical knowledge about social and algorithmic influences in digital media environments.