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)

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"

2015
Universität Wien
uni:docs. Individualförderinitiative der Universität Wien, die darauf abzielt, exzellente DoktorandInnen zu fördern. Gefördertes Forschungsprojekt: "Political Actors on Social Media: Outreach, Message Content and Effects on Young Citizens"

• 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. [Online First]
• Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (accepted). Funny cats and politics. Do humorous context posts impede or foster the elaboration of news posts on social media? Communication Research.
• Heiss, R., Knoll, J., & Matthes, J. (accepted). Pathways to political (dis-)engagement: Social media use motivations and the role of incidental and intentional exposure modes in adolescents. Communications - The European Journal of Communication Research.
• 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. [Online First]
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Knoll, J., Matthes, J., & Heiss, R. (2018). The social media political participation model: A goal systems theory perspective. Convergence. [Online First]
• 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: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 28(3), 123.

• Heiss R., & Matthes, J. (2017). Operationalisierung und Messung. In C. Wagemann, A. Goerres, & M. Siewert, Handbuch Methoden Politikwissenschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer.
• 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.

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., 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, 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., 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. (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.