After the International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC) had to be held virtually last year, the 25th anniversary could take place in Orlando, Florida in March 2022. The Department of Strategic Communication was represented with two submissions accepted in the anonymous review process. The $1,000 Baylor University Department of Journalism, Public Relations & New Media Top Ethics Paper Award went to Jeanne Link for the paper "Ethical dilemmas in digital communication - An empirical investigation of ethical decision-making processes." The paper was based on her master's thesis on this topic, which was awarded the Günter Thiele Prize last year.
Ansgar Zerfaß and Jeanne Link were also invited to present their paper "Business models for communication departments: A comprehensive approach to analyze, explain and innovate communication management in organizations". The paper was based on a research project conducted in cooperation with the communications consultancy Lautenbach Sass (Frankfurt) and the world’s leading applied research organization Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
The IPRRC conference is considered one of the leading platforms for PR research, with around 110 selected research results from universities around the world presented and discussed each year.