Dr Hagos Nigussie Kahssay from Mekelle University in Ethiopia has been awarded a Georg Forster Research Fellowship for experienced researchers by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and will now be conducting research at Paderborn University for two and a half years. The fellowship supports academics with above-average qualifications in their research projects in Germany. Applicants choose their project and host themselves. Nigussie Kahssay has been working at the Institute of Media Studies with Prof Dr Tobias Matzner since the beginning of the year. In the field of journalism, the Ethiopian specialises in the use of so-called "folk media" for development contexts. Folk media can combine cultural values, beliefs and attitudes with national and social needs. They are locally orientated, easily accessible and relatively inexpensive.
The fellowship is aimed at experienced researchers from all disciplines from developing and newly industrialising countries. The Humboldt Foundation thus recognises the importance of researchers from these countries in achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Matzner holds the professorship for "Cultures of Digitality/Digital Humanities" at Paderborn University and combines theories on (digital) media and technologies with approaches from political philosophy, cultural studies and social theory. A particular focus is on algorithms and machine learning.
This text has been translated automatically.
