Description and Mandate of the Chair

Together with the University of Hamburg, the Hans-Bredow-Institut has made a a research-cooperation agreement for the “UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Communication and Information”, which is head by Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schulz.

In the context of this joint project, the Institute’s existing contacts in the Asia-Pacific region are consolidated into a network and intensified.  Alongside the international research work in workshops, support for beginning researchers, as well as knowledge transfer in threshold and developing countries, also stands at the forefront.  The visibility and durability of these activities will be documented in academic publications.

In tandem with UNESCO and the University of Hamburg, the National Law University in Delhi, India, and the law faculty of the University of Haifa as well as the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand, are supporting these projects.

We are thus looking to extend our international partnerships.  Since October 2013, researchers and students from Hamburg, Delhi and Haifa had the opportunity to exchange ideas on current questions of information and communications law from intercultural viewpoints.

The Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) examines media change and the related structural shifts in public communication.  It combines basic research and research on knowledge transfer from cross-media, interdisciplinary and independent scholarly perspectives.  Thus, the institute is a valued provider of problem-specific knowledge for politics, commerce and civil society.

The research perspective of the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) focuses on media-based public communication, regardless of the individual technical platforms involved.  The institute’s research focuses on how certain forms of media-based communication influence different aspects of our lives, such as politics, economy, culture, education, law, religion and family, and how they contribute to structural transformations.  The fact that the research activities are problem-oriented also leads to a distinct interest in the “new” media – and it is the Institute’s aim to contribute to their understanding as well as to their future shape.

(UNESCO No. 2013DE1033)
(Ver. PBe 03-2023)