About the person
Romy Fröhlich was appointed professor of communication science at the IfKW in September 2000. She studied communication science, modern German literature, and theater studies at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, returning to her alma mater in 2000. During her studies, she worked for INFRATEST's interviewer management team and was a permanent employee in the press and information department of Münchner Messe und Ausstellungs GmbH. After graduating in 1985, she initially worked as a research assistant at GFK in the market research department and moved to the University of Music and Drama in Hanover in 1986. There, she earned her doctorate in 1993 at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Research on the topic of radio PR. During her time as a research assistant in Hanover, she spent several months as a visiting scholar at the School of Journalism at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA. In the early 1990s, she worked as a senior consultant at a Frankfurt PR agency. She was also part-time head of press and public relations at the University of Music and Drama in Hanover. In 1998, she accepted a professorship in journalism and public relations at Ruhr University Bochum, from where she then moved to LMU in 2000. Prof. Fröhlich was chair of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (DGPuK) from 2002 to 2006. For many years, she has been involved in various capacities, including as a DFG ad hoc reviewer, DAAD reviewer, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Association of German Press Officers (BdP), whose jury chairwoman (“Press Office of the Year”) she also was 2012-2023. She wasa member of editorial boards and international editorial advisory boards of international scientific journals such as “Communication, Culture & Critique Journal,” “Journalism & Mass Communication Editor,” and “Feminist Media Studies,” and a member of the review boards of “Studies in Communication Sciences” and “Corporate Communications.” From 2002 to 2015, Romy Fröhlich was a member of the Faculty Council of Faculty 15. There, she was involved as a member of the “Ethics Committee for Ensuring Good Research Practice,” which was established in 2015 with her collaboration. From 2002 to 2004, she was an elected member of the LMU Senate for Faculty 15.
As part of “LMUexcellent,” Prof. Fröhlich served as a mentor from 2007 to 2017, supporting highly qualified young female scientists in their academic careers on the path to professorship. Further information on the LMU mentoring program as part of LMUexcellent can be found on the Faculty 15 website.
Prof. Fröhlich has been retired since 2025.
Focus areas in research and teaching
Romy Fröhlich's research and teaching focus on public relations/organizational communication, news theory/research (particularly on the topic of media & war/violence/conflict), gender-specific aspects of communication science and media research, and the design and implementation of e-learning projects in communication science. An interdisciplinary expertise in all these areas is empirical social research methods – in particular content analysis and surveys – and here especially questions of empirical PR evaluation and controlling research as well as occupational sociological research in the field of media professions. Romy Fröhlich coordinated the international EU FP7 research project INFOCORE – (In)Forming Conflict Prevention, Response and Resolution: The Role of Media in Violent Conflict,involving 11 researchers from nine leading universities and research institutions across Europe and Israel. She also was Principal Investigator of workpackage 6 on “Strategic Communication" (2014-2016).
Master projects KW and in IPR:
SoSe 2007 "PR im Web 2.0"
SoSe 2008 "PR-Evaluationsforschung"
SoSe 2009 "Externe PR-Beratung - Strukturen, Funktionen und Leistungen"
SoSe 2011 "Medien & Krieg"
SoSe 2012 "Nach der Wahl ist vor der Wahl"
SoSe 2013 "Polit-PR"
SoSe 2014 "Corporate Public Relations, Aktivismus und sozialer Wandel"
SoSe 2014 "Corporate Public Relations, Aktivismus und sozialer Wandel"
SoSe 2015 "Internal Communication" (in Englisch)
SoSe 2016 (Mediated) Public Diplomacy
SoSe 2017 "PR in the Post-Factual Era"
SoSe 2018 "Terrorismus and Strategic Communication"
SoSe 2019 "Die Wahrhaftigkeitproblematik strategisch-persuasiver Kommunikation (im post-faktualen Zeitalter)"
SoSe 2020 "Post truth und die Evidenz von PR"