Philipp Lorenz-Spreen appointed Professor of Computational Social Science at TUD

On August 25, 2026, Philipp Lorenz-Spreen was appointed Professor of Computational Social Science at TUD. He will officially take up his new position on September 1. The professorship is jointly based at the Institute of Media and Communication within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science and at SynoSys, a department of the Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences, CIDS.

Lorenz-Spreen's research focuses on the societal impact of digital media, online platforms and algorithmic systems. He investigates how digitalization affects political discourse, opinion dynamics, polarization, attention and collective behavior. His work combines computational methods with a complex systems perspective to better understand the dynamics of digital societies.

"We want to understand how digitalization is systematically transforming our society, how algorithms, platforms and generative AI influence public opinion and democracy, and how we can actively contribute to shaping these developments. To do this, we use the tools that digitalization itself provides, including online experiments, computational methods and the data trails it leaves behind," says Philipp Lorenz-Spreen.

The new professorship strengthens Computational Social Science at the intersection of communication research, social science and complex systems research at TUD. At the Institute of Media and Communication, it expands research and teaching on digital communication and its societal and political consequences with computational approaches. At SynoSys, it further develops Computational Social Science as one of the department's central research areas.

The joint affiliation also creates opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Within CIDS, the professorship connects social science research with data science and the study of complex systems. At the same time, its integration into the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science provides links to Communication Studies, Sociology, Political Science and other disciplines concerned with the transformation of society under digital conditions.

Lorenz-Spreen will contribute to teaching in German and English in the degree programs of the Institute of Media and Communication, including the Master's program Applied Media Research, as well as in other social science programs. His teaching will cover methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of digital society. He will also supervise student theses and doctoral projects.