Dr. Raffael Heiss, MA

2018 - heute
Postdoctoral researcher & lecturer - MCI Management Center Innsbruck

2014 - 2018
PhD candidate & uni:docs fellow - - University of Vienna, Department of Communications

2013 - 2014
PR & public affairs consultant - Grayling Austria

2011
Tutor - University of Vienna, Department of Communication

2009 - 2013
Intern - Communications & Network Consulting (UK); Tirol Tourist Board (Tirol Werbung); Tiroler Tageszeitung

2016
International Summer School in Political Communication and Electoral Behaviour: Changing Media Environments, Changing Democracies - University of Milan (Certificate)

2014 - 2018
Communication - University of Vienna (PhD)

2010
Communication Management - Fudan University (Certificate)

2008 - 2012
Communication - University of Vienna (MA)

2008 - 2012
Political Science - University of Vienna (MA)

2005 - 2008
Political Science - University of Innsbruck (BA)

2020
Land Tirol (State of Tirol)
Research grant (13,000 EUR) awarded by the Tirol science fund (TWF) for the project "FoodExplorer - A Citizen Science Project to Improve School Food Environments".

2019
University of Vienna
Dissertation Award "Sowi-Doc.Award 2019" (1,500 EUR). Each year, the Faculty of Social Sciences awards the Sowi-Doc.Awards to three doctoral graduates, who receive EUR 1,500 each for their outstanding research contributions in the framework of their doctoral thesis. The award aims at motivating doctoral graduates to pursue a career in academia.

2019
Euregio
Winner of the 2nd prize (1,000 EUR) in the Euregio Young Researchers' Award competition. The Award competition is part the the annual conference Forum Alpbach. Research Project : "Political Actors on Social Media: Content, Selection and Effects" (Dissertation)

2018
Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Research grant (~300,000 EUR) for the project "Social Media and Political Engagement: Mechanisms and Contingencies" (co-author, with J. Matthes as PI)

2017
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Top Student Paper Award, AEJMC, Political Communication Interest Group: Heiss R.: "How to respond to right-wing populism? Investigating the effects of three government response strategies on anti-immigrant and anti-government attitudes"

2016
Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy
Research grant (~50,000EUR) for the project "The Political Participation Observer. A Citizen Science Tool for Tracking Political Participation" (Top Citizen Science Initiative). (Lead author, with J. Matthes as PI)

2015
University of Vienna
uni:docs fellowship for the project: "Political Actors on Social Media: Outreach, Message Content and Effects on Young Citizens" The uni:docs fellowship programme offered individual scholarships which aim at financing excellent doctoral candidates. Successful fellows were employed at the University of Vienna for a period of three years. The fellowship provided outstanding early stage researchers with conditions that allowed them to focus exclusively on their research and thus make substantial contributions to science.

• Heiss, R., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., Eicher C. (accepteed). Citizen Science in Schools: Predictors and Outcomes of Participating in Voluntary Political Research. Sage Open.
• Stubenvoll, M., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (accepted). Media Trust under Threat: Antecedents and Consequences of Misinformation Perceptions on Social Media. International Journal of Communication.
• Heiss, R. (accepted). How Humorous Posts Influence Engagement With Political Posts on Social Media: The Role of Political Involvement. Journal of Media Psychology.
• Heiss, R., Gell, S., Röthlingshöfer, E., Zoller, C. (2021). How Threat Perceptions Relate to Learning and Conspiracy Beliefs About COVID-19: Evidence From a Panel Study. Personality and Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110672
• Heiss, R. (2020). Fighting Health Infodemics: The Role of Citizen Empowerment. Eurohealth 26(3).
• Nanz, A., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2020). Antecedents of intentional and incidental exposure modes on social media and consequences for political participation: A panel study. Acta Politica. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00182-4
• Heiss, R., Naderer, B., & Matthes, J. (accepted). Healthwashing in High-Sugar Food Advertising: The Effect of Prior Information on Healthwashing Perceptions in Austria. Health Promotion International.
• Heiss, R. (2020). The Affective Foundation of Political Opinion Expression on Social Media: A Panel Analysis. International Journal of Public Opinion Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edaa009
• Matthes, J., Nanz, A., Stubenvoll, M., Heiss R. (2020). Processing News on Social Media. The Political Incidental News Exposure Model (PINE). Journalism, 21(8), 1031-1048. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920915371
• Schmuck, D., Heiss, R., Matthes, J. (2020). Drifting Further Apart? How Exposure to Media Portrayals of Muslims Affects Attitude Polarization. Political Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pops.12664
• Naderer, B., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2020). The Skilled and the Interested: How Personal Curation Skills Increase or Decrease Exposure to Political Information on Social Media. Journal of Information Technology & Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2020.1742843
• Binder, A., Heiss, R., Matthes, J. (2020). Dealigned but Mobilized? Insights from a Citizen Science Study on Youth Political Engagement. Journal of Youth Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2020.1714567
• Sikorski, Ch., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2019). How Political Scandals Affect the Electorate. Tracing the Eroding and Spillover Effects of Scandals with a Panel Study. Political Psychology. https://10.1111/pops.12638
• Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2019). Stuck in a Nativist Spiral: Content, Selection, and Effects of Right-Wing Populists' Communication on Facebook. Political Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1661890
• Heiss, R, & Matthes, J. (2019). Does Incidental Exposure on Social Media Equalize or Reinforce Participatory Gaps? Evidence from a Panel Study. New Media & Society, 21(11-12), 2463-2482. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819850755
• Heiss, R., Knoll, J., & Matthes, J. (2019). Pathways to political (dis-)engagement: Social media use motivations and the role of incidental and intentional exposure modes in adolescents' political engagement. Communications - The European Journal of Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2019-2054
• Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2019). Funny cats and politics. Do humorous context posts impede or foster the elaboration of news posts on social media? Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650219826006
• Heiss, R., von Sikorski, Ch., Matthes, J. (2019). Populist Twitter posts in news stories: Statement recognition and the polarizing effects on candidate evaluation and anti-immigrant attitudes. Journalism Practice, 13(6), 742-758. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1564883
• Heiss, R., Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2018). What drives interaction in political actors' Facebook posts? Profile and content predictors of user engagement and political actors' reactions. Information, Communication & Society, 22(10), 1497-1513. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1445273
• Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2017). Citizen science in the social sciences: a call for more evidence. GAIA-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 26(1), 22-26. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.26.1.7
• Schmuck, D., Heiss, R., Matthes, J., Engesser, S., & Esser, F. (2017). Antecedents of strategic game framing in political news coverage. Journalism, 18(8), 937-955. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916648098
• Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2017). Who ‘likes' populists? Characteristics of adolescents following right-wing populist actors on Facebook. Information, Communication & Society, 20(9), 1408-1424. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1328524
• Knoll, J., Matthes, J., & Heiss, R. (2018). The social media political participation model: A goal systems theory perspective. Convergence. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517750366
• Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2016). Mobilizing for some: The effects of politicians' participatory Facebook posts on young people's political efficacy. Journal of Media Psychology, 28(3), 123. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000199

• Falkenback, M., & Heiss, R. (forthcoming). The Austrian Freedom Party in Government: A Threat to Public Health? In: M. Falkenbach & S. Geer (Eds.), Populist Radical Right and Health: National Policies and Global Trends. Wiesbaden: Springer.
• Heiss R., & Matthes, J. (2017). Operationalisierung und Messung. In C. Wagemann, A. Goerres, & M. Siewert, Handbuch Methoden Politikwissenschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer. https://bit.ly/2K106HT
• Heiss R. (2017). Types of Data. In J. Matthes, R. Potter & C. S. Davis (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Kerschbaumer, L., Gell, S., Nesimovic, A., Röthlingshofer, E., Heiss, R., Zoller, C. (2020, October). Integrating health promotion in schools - local mechanisms and strategies. Presentation at the (virtual) 16th World Congress on Public Health, October 12-16, Rome, Italy.

Falkenbach, M. & Heiss, R. (2020, October). The Austrian Freedom Party - A Threat to Public Health? Presentation at the (virtual) 16th World Congress on Public Health, October 12-16, Rome, Italy.

Reiter, F., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2020, August). What explains diverse opinion exposure on social network sites? Investigating the role of ideological extremity, political involvement, and network characteristics. Presentation to the Political Communication Section at the (virtual) ECPR General Conference, August 24-28.

Heiss, R. & Rudolph, L. (2020, May). Patients as Health Influencers on Social Media: Motivations and Consequences of Following Instagram Bloggers Suffering From Cancer. Presentation at the (virtual) 70th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 20-26.

Heiss, R. (2020, May). Context Matters: The Political Effects of Humorous Social Media Posts in Low and High Involvement Situations. Presentation at the (virtual) 70th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 20-26.

Heiss R. (2020). Politik(er) auf Social Media: Neue Räume für Emotion, Deliberation und Beteiligung? Invited talk at the ÖGB Tirol.

Gell, S., & Heiss, R. (2020, February). FoodExplorer - A Citizen Science Project to Improve School Food Environments. Invited presentation at the workshop "Health and Wellbeing: Addressing today's Global Paradox", Department of Sport Science, Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, February 6, Innsbruck, Austria.

Heiss, R., & Rudolph, L. (2019, September). Health Influencer auf Social Media: Motivationen und Konsequenzen des 'Folgens' krebserkrankter Instagram Bloggerinnen. Angenommener Vortrag auf der 5. Konferenz der Österreichischen Plattform Gesundheitskompetenz (ÖPGK), 19. September, St. Pölten, Österreich.

Heiss, R. (2019, August). Political Actors on Social Media: Content, Selection and Effects. Presentation at the Forum Alpbach (Euregio Young Researchers' Award), August 17, Alpbach, Austria.

Matthes, J., Nanz, A., Heiss, R., & Stubenvoll, M. (2019, August). Processing news on social media: The political incidental news exposure model. Presentation to the Communication Theory and Methodology Division at the AEJMC Annual Convention, August 7-10, Toronto, Canada.

Schmuck, D., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2019, August). Drifting Further Apart? How Exposure to Online and Offline News Portrayals of Muslims Affects Attitude Polarization. Presentation at the AEJMC Annual Convention, August 7-10, Toronto, Canada.

Von Sikorski, Ch., & Heiss, R. (2019, May). How Political Scandals Affect the Electorate. Tracing the Spillover and Eroding Effects of Scandals with a Panel Study. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 69th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-28, Washington D.C., USA.

Stubenvoll, M., & Heiss, R. (2019, May). Media Trust under Threat: Antecedents and Consequences of "Fake News" Perceptions on Social Media. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 69th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-28, Washington D.C., USA.

Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2019, May). Does Incidental Exposure on Social Media Equalize or Reinforce Participatory Gaps? Evidence from a Panel Study. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 69th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-28, Washington D.C., USA.

Heiss, R. (2019, May). The Affective Foundation of Political Expression on Social Media: Evidence form a Panel Analysis. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 69th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-28, Washington D.C., USA.

Heiss, R., & Naderer, B. (2019, May). "Healthwashing" Uncovered: Health Knowledge Enables the Detection of Inappropriate Health Claims in Food Advertising. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 69th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-28, Washington D.C., USA.

Kerschbaumer, L, Heiss R., Zoller, C., Holzmann, L. (2019, January). Wie kann Tirol rauchfrei(er) werden? Die Gratwanderung zwischen Bevormundung und Anregung. Invited Talk at the "Sounding Board Tirol", organized by the Tiroler Gebietskrankenkasse (TGKK), 24. January, Innsbruck, Austria.

Heiss, R. (2019, January). Digital Media and Citizen Engagement: Challenges and Opportunities of a High Choice Media Environment. Invited talk at the "Social Media and Politics Forum" organized by the Center of Strategic Studies, University of Jordan, January 21, Amman, Jordan.

Heiss R., Naderer, B., & Matthes, J. (2018, December). "Healthwashing" Uncovered: Health Knowledge Enables the Detection of Inappropriate Health Claims in Food Advertising. Paper presented at the Kick-off Meeting Life & Health Science Cluster Tirol, December 3-4, Innsbruck, Austria.

Heiss R., von Sikorski, C., & Matthes, J. (2018, August). The Polarizing Effect of a Twitter Post: Investigating the Effects of Highlighted Right-Wing Populist Statements in Political News Coverage. Paper presented at the general conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), August 22-25, Hamburg, Germany.

Heiss, R., Binder, A. Matthes, J., & Sander, D. (2018, June). Are Adolescents Really Disengaged? Investigating the Appeal of Old and New Spaces for Political Participation in a Citizen Science Project. Paper presented at the annual conference of the European Political Science Association (EPSA), June 21-23, Vienna, Austria.

Heiss, R. (2018, June). Political Actors on Social Media: Benefits and Challenges for Democracy. Invited Talk at the Department of Political Science of the University of Innsbruck, June 19, Innsbruck, Austria.

Heiss, R. (2018, May). Stuck in a Populist Spiral? Investigating the Relationship Between Citizens' Populist Predispositions and Their Connections to Right-Wing Populists on Facebook Using Panel Data. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 68th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-29, Prague, Czech Republic.

Heiss, R. (2018, May). Funny Cats and Politics. Do Humorous Context Posts Impede or Foster the Elaboration of Embedded Political Messages on Social Media? Full paper accepted for presentation at the 68th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 24-29, Prague, Czech Republic.

Naderer, B., Heiss R., Matthes, J. (2018, May). The Skilled and the Interested: Investigating the Interaction Effect of Social Media Literacy and Political Interest on Exposure to Political Content on Social Network Sites. Proposal accepted for presentation at the ICA-Preconference Media Literacy as an Intergenerational Project: Skills, Norms, and Mediation, May 23, Munich, Germany.

Heiss, R. (2017, October). Citizen Science in den Sozialwissenschaften: Perspektiven und Herausforderungen. Invited talk at the Workshop Citizen Science of the Leibniz-Netzwerk Citizen Science, October 12, Berlin, Germany.

Heiss R. (2017, August). How to respond to right-wing populism? Investigating the effects of three government response strategies on anti-immigrant and anti-government attitudes. Full paper presentation to the Political Communication Interest Group at the 100th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), August 9-12, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Heiss, R., & Knoll, J. (2017, May). Pathways to political (dis-)engagement: User motivations and the role of incidental and intentional exposure modes in adolescents' political engagement. Full paper presentation at the 67th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), 25-29 May, San Diego, CA, USA.

Heiss, R., & Schmuck, D. (2017). What drives interaction in political actors' Facebook posts? Profile and content predictors of user engagement and political actors' reactions. Full paper presentation at the 67th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), May 25-29, San Diego, CA, USA.

Heiss, R. (2016, September). Social media & political campaigning: What drives user engagement? Invited talk at the 4th social media conference "Babel Camp", September 10, Prague, Czech Republic.

Heiss R. (2016, June). Mobilizing for some. The effects of politicians' participatory Facebook posts on young people's political efficacy. Full paper presentation at the 66th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), June 9-13, Fukuoka, Japan.

Knoll J., Matthes J., & Heiss R. (2016, June). The social media participation model: A goal systems theory perspective. Full paper presentation at the 66th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), June 9-13, Fukuoka, Japan.

Heiss, R., Schmuck, D., Eicher, C., & Matthes, J. (2016, June). Citizen science as a method of data collection: Exploring the predictors of participation among school students. Full paper presentation at Communication Research Methods 2016: Practices & Challenges, pre-conference to the 66th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), June 9-13, Fukuoka, Japan.

Heiss, R., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J. (2015, December). Introducing "Citizen Science" to communication research: Political experience sampling with high school students. Presentation at the Citizen Science Workshop 2015 of the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, December 11, Vienna, Austria.

Heiss, R., & Schmuck, D. (2015, November). Jugendmobilisierung auf Facebook? Eine inhaltsanalytische Untersuchung zu Jugendansprache und politischen Partizipationsangeboten in der Facebook-Kommunikation österreichischer Politiker/innen [Youth mobilization on Facebook? Youth appeals and calls to action in the Facebook communication of Austrian politicians]. Presentation at the under.docs conference, November 12-14, Vienna, Austria.

Schmuck, D., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2015, August). Antecedents of strategic game framing in political news coverage. Full paper presentation at the Political Communication interest group at the 98th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), August 6-9, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Hohenwarter Pia (2021): Food-Labeling als politische Maßnahme: Eine quantitative Erhebung zur Beurteilung von Nährwertangaben aus Sicht österreichischer Konsument/innen

Gritsch Linda (2021): Aktive und passive Social-Media-Nutzung: Der Einfluss auf sozialen Aufwärtsvergleich, Einsamkeit und Lebenszufriedenheit

Fritz Hannah (2021): Littering im öffentlichen Raum: Eine Befragungsstudie zur Litteringsituation in Innsbruck

Rudolph Leonie (2019): Veränderung der individuellen Wahrnehmung von AbonnentInnen hinsichtlich gesundheitlichen Präventionsverhalten und Gesundheitsbewusstsein beeinflusst durch das Abonnement von krebskranken Bloggern via Istagram

Stadler Lara (2019): Der Onlineauftritt der Identitären Bewegung

Wu Pei-In (2020): Social Media Use, eHealth Literacy, Health Behavior Changes and Health Status: Evidence from a Patient Survey in Taiwan

Tarot Palma Mariajose (2020): Influence of Mental Health Literacy on Treatment- Seeking Behavior. A Systematic Review on Non- Western Countries

Ellmauer Gernold (2020): The Austrian Smoking Ban: Investigating Self-Reported Changes in Smoking Behavior and Attitudes towards the Ban in Active Smokers

Rothe Denis (2020): A conceptualization of social prescribing: Yielding recommendations based on the findings of a systematic review