Successful doctorate for Lena Lehrer

Lena Lehrer first studied media communication in Würzburg and in the Master Health Communication at the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Erfurt. Since 2022, she has been a research employee in the project Planetary Health Action Survey (PACE) in the health communication working group of Cornelia Betsch at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg in Hamburg. She is also a member of the Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour.

In her dissertation, Lena Lehrer investigated what motivates people to take action on climate protection - in their everyday lives, in their support for political measures and also through political engagement. The focus is on the question: What factors make it more likely that risk perception or knowledge will lead to concrete steps? Based on data from the Planetary Health Action Survey (PACE), she shows that health-related risk perceptions, expectations of effectiveness, social norms and trust in actors and institutions are key factors in the willingness to take action.

Another part of the work deals with how people think about the future. Lena Lehrer shows that our images of the future - whether hopeful or rather gloomy - can influence whether we take action. The results thus provide concrete starting points for evidence-based climate and health communication - from the target group-specific approach to the selection of suitable channels and the design of messages that visualise opportunities for action and collective effectiveness.

With her dissertation, Lena Lehrer provides important insights for comprehensible, effective climate and health communication - and for how society, politics and individuals can be better supported in actively shaping climate protection.

We congratulate Lena Lehrer on her successful doctorate!