Dr. Mirjam Jenny

Background

Mirjam Jenny is a decision scientist, science communicator, and networker. Her goal is to strengthen individuals and organizations at the intersection of science, society, and politics so that they can make evidence-based, risk-competent, and sustainable decisions and communicate them effectively. 

As staff member of the Chair of Health Communication, she currently leads the project HEATCOM - Behavioural data for effective heat communication.

In March 2026, Mirjam Jenny took up the position of managing director at the Junge Akademie in Berlin. Previously, at the University of Erfurt, Mirjam Jenny established the “Science2Society” division as managing director of the Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour. Before that, she founded and led the science communication project group at the Robert Koch Institute and supported communications for the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin. She also advises various governmental and civil society organizations. Her work has been featured in national and international media. Her research has been recognized with awards, including the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society.

Areas of expertise: decision making, science communication, risk communication, risk literacy, crisis communication, planetary health behaviour
 

Curriculum Vitae

Academic career

• 2003 - 2013              B.Sc., M.Sc., and Dr. phil. (summa cum laude) in Psychology,  University of Basel, Switzerland

Employment

• 2022 – present        Visiting Researcher at the Department of Health Communication, University of Erfurt
• 2026 – present        Managing Director, Die Junge Akademie, Berlin
• 2022 – 2026            Scientific Managing Director at the Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour (IPB), Universität Erfurt
• 2020 – 2021             Head of Science Communication, Robert Koch Institute and Consultant to the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence
• Jan - Jun 2020          Executive Director, Harding Center for Risk Literacy, University of Potsdam
• 2016 – 2019             Head Research Scientist, Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
• 2015                         Data Scientist, Executive Department Innovation, National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV)
• 2013 – 2014             Post-doc Scientist, Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
• 2008                         Peer Move Coach (Human Resources) at Novartis Stein AG, Switzerland

Awards

• Otto Hahn Medal for best dissertation related research, Max Planck Society
• Emilie Louise Frey Prize for best dissertation, Basel Association of Female Academics and Basel Association of Female University Lecturers

Publications

In peer-reviewed scientific journals

• Jenny, M. A., Betsch, C. (2022). Large-scale behavioural data are key to climate policy. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 1444–1447. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01479-4
• Jenny, M. A., Lehrer, L., Eitze, S., Sprengholz, P., Korn, L., Shamsrizi, P., Geiger, M., Hellmann, L., Mai, L., Maur, K., & Betsch, C. (2022). Accelerating climate protection by behavioural insights: The Planetary Health Action Survey (PACE). The Lancet Planetary Health, 6, 19. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00281-9 [Published Abstract of a Poster presented at the Planetary Health Annual Meeting]
• Rebitschek, F. G., Ellermann, C., Jenny, M. A., Siegel, N. A., Spinner, C., Wagner, G. G. (2022). Fact boxes that inform individual decisions may contribute to a more positive evaluation of COVID-19 vaccinations at the population level. PLoS ONE 17(9): e0274186. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0274186
• Maier, B. F., Wiedermann, M., Burdinski, A., Klamser, P., Jenny, M. A., Betsch, C., Brockmann, D. (2021). Germany's current COVID-19 crisis is mainly driven by the unvaccinated. Communications Medicine. 
• Betsch, C., Sprengholz, P., Siegers, R., Eitze, S., Korn, L., Goldhahn, L., ... & Jenny, M. A. (2021). Unpacking the black box: Empirical evidence to understand the human factor for effective rapid testing against SARS-CoV2. PNAS.
• Albrecht, R., Jenny, M. A., Nilsson, H., & Rieskamp, J. (2021). The similarity-updating model of probability judgment and belief revision. Psychological Review.
• Eitze S., Felgendreff L., Korn L., Sprengholz P., Allen J., Jenny M. A., Wieler L.H., Thaiss, H., De Bock, F., & Betsch, C. (2021): Vertrauen der Bevölkerung in staatliche Institutionen im ersten Halbjahr der Coronapandemie: Erkenntnisse aus dem Projekt COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO). Bundesgesundheitsblatt 2021.
• Loss, J., Boklage, E., Jordan, S., Jenny, M. A., Weishaar, H. & El Bcheraoui, C. (2021). Risikokommunikation bei der Eindämmung der COVID-19-Pandemie: Herausforderungen und Erfolg versprechende Ansätze. Bundesgesundheitsblatt.
• Jarecki, J. B., Tan, J. H., & Jenny, M. A. (2020). A framework for building cognitive process models. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
• Deffland, M., Spies, C., Weiss, B., Keller, N., Jenny, M. A., Kruppa, J., Balzer, F. (2020). Effects of pain, sedation and delirium monitoring on clinical and economic outcome: a retrospective study. PLOS One.
• Keller, N., & Jenny, M. A. (2020). How to determine when SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing is or is not useful for population screening: a tutorial. MDM Policy & Practice.
• Herzog, S. M., Jenny, M. A., Nickel, C. H., Nieves Ortega, R., & Bingisser, R. (2020). Emergency department patients with weakness or fatigue: Can physicians predict their outcomes at the front door? A prospective observational study. PLOS One.
• Keller, N., Jenny, M. A., Spies, C. A., & Herzog, S. M. (2020). Augmenting Decision Competence in Healthcare Using AI-based Cognitive Models. In 2020 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (ICHI).
• Kuster, T., Nickel, C., Jenny M. A., Blaschke, L. L., Bingisser, R. (2019). Combinations of Symptoms in Emergency Presentations: Prevalence and Outcome. Journal of Clinical Medicine.
• Jenny, M. A., Keller, N., Gigerenzer, G. (2018). Assessing minimal medical statistical literacy using the Quick Risk Test: a prospective observational study 
in Germany. BMJ Open.
• Arabin, B., Timmesfeld, N., Noever, K., Behnam, S., Ellermann, C., & Jenny, M. A. (2018). How to improve health literacy to reduce short- and long-term consequences of maternal obesity? The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine.
• Jenny, M. A., Hertwig, R., Ackermann, S., Messmer, A. S., Karakoumis, J., Nickel, Ch. H., & Bingisser, R. (2015) Are mortality and acute morbidity in patients presenting with nonspecific complaints predictable using routine variables? Academic Emergency Medicine.
• Jenny, M. A., Rieskamp, J., & Nilsson, H. (2014). Inferring conjunctive probabilities from experienced noisy samples: Evidence from the configural weighted average model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
• Nilsson, H., Rieskamp, J., & Jenny, M. A. (2013). Exploring the overestimation of conjunctive probabilities. Frontiers in Psychology.
• Jenny, M. A., Pachur, T., Williams, L., Becker, E., & Margraf, J. (2013). Simple rules for detecting depression. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
• Fuchs, H. M., Jenny, M., & Fiedler, S. (2012). Psychologists are open to change, yet wary of rules. Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Preprints

• Rebitschek, F., Ellermann, C., Jenny, M. A., Siegel, N. A., Spinner, C., & Wagner. G. (2021). How Skeptics Could Be Convinced (not Persuaded) to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19. PsyArXiv.

Policy papers and other formats without peer-review

• Jenny, M.A., Schmitz, J. & Betsch., C. (2022). Klimaschutz und Gesundheitsförderung: Über den Wert sozial- und verhaltenswissenschaftlicher Ansätze. In: Graalmann, J., Hirschhausen, E., & Blum, K. (Eds.). (2022). Jetzt oder nie: Nachhaltigkeit im Gesundheitswesen: Ökologisch. Ökonomisch. Menschlich. Digital. Mit einem Geleitwort von Karl Lauterbach. MWV.
• Baltruks, D., Jenny, M. A., Mezger, N. C. S., Voss, M. (2022). Umsetzung der Beschlüsse des 125. Deutschen Ärztetags zu Klima und Gesundheit.
• Holford, D., Jenny, M. A., Hahn, U., Koylyu, A., Scherzer, M., Lewandowsky, S., Herzog, S. M., Fasce, A., & Wulf, M. (2022). Written evidence submitted by SciBeh for the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee 15th Meeting, 2022 (Session 6), Thursday 26 May 2022: COVID-19: communication of public health information (CVDR/S6/22/15/1).
• Jenny, M. A., Lein, I., Jung-Sendzik, T., Eitze, S., Drosten, C., & Betsch, C. (2021). Kommunikationsempfehlungen zur Verbesserung des Verhaltens bei der Verwendung von PoC Antigen-Schnelltests und Selbsttests. Epidemiological Bulletin.
• Seifried J., Böttcher S., Oh D.Y., Michel J., Nitsche A. Jenny M. A., Wieler L.H., Antão E.-M., Jung-Sendzik T., Dürrwald R., Diercke M., Haas W., Abu Sin M., Eckmanns T., Hamouda O., & Mielke M. (2021): Was ist bei Antigentests zur Eigenanwendung (Selbsttests) zum Nachweis von SARS-CoV-2 zu beachten? Epidemiological Bulletin.
• Lein, I., Leuker, C., Antão, E.M., von Kleist, M., & Jenny, M. (2020). SARS CoV-2: Testergebnisse richtig einordnen. Deutsches Ärzteblatt.
• Leuker, C., Lein, I., Antão, E.M., von Kleist, M., & Jenny, M. A. (2020). Corona-Schnelltests – die Prävalenz macht’s! ÄrzteZeitung.
• von Kleist, M., Ruehe, B., Oh, D-J., Nitsche, A., Haas, W., Stoliaroff-Pépin, A., Eckmanns, T., Abu Sin, M., van der Toorn, W., Jenny, M. A., Mielke, M., Herzog, C. & Wieler, L. (2020). Abwägung der Dauer von Quarantäne und Isolierung bei COVID-19. Epidemiologisches Bulletin.
• Lein, I., & Jenny, M. A. (2020). Risikokommunikation bei der Krebsfrüherkennung - Risiken und Unsicherheiten erkennen und kommunizieren. MTA Dialog 2020.
• Jenny M. A. & Lein, I. (2020). Der „Schnelltest Risikokompetenz" - Die Lücke in der medizinischen Aus- und Weiterbildung. MTA Dialog.
• Lein, I., Keller, N., & Jenny M. A. (2020). Was Ärzte und Ärztinnen über Testergebnisse, Früherkennungsuntersuchungen, medizinische Risiken und Risikokommunikation wissen müssen. In: D Schilling, J.F. Riemann (Eds.), Prävention gastroenterologischer Tumorerkrankungen - Primär-, Sekundär- und Tertiärprävention. Springer-Verlag.
• Fleischhut, N. & Jenny, M. A. (2019). Kommunikationsproblem Naturgefahren: Wie lassen sich Hochwasserrisiken transparent und verständlich darstellen? (Studie im Auftrag des Sachverständigenrats für Verbraucherfragen). Berlin: Sachverständigenrat für Verbraucherfragen.
• Wilhelm, C., Ellermann, C., & Jenny, M. A. (2019). Prävention von Schwangerschaftsdiabetes: Gesundheitsinformationen für die Praxis. Deutsches Ärzteblatt.
• Schirren, C., Lein, I., Diel, F, Jenny, M. A. (2019). Zahlen können Verwirrung stiften. Deutsches Ärzteblatt.
• Jenny, M. A., & Mildner, M. (2018). Risikokompetenz – Schlüssel für eine bessere Medizin. Riport.
• Jenny, M. A. (2018). Risikokompetenz als Voraussetzung guter und selbstbestimmter Entscheidungen. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung.
• Keller, N., Jenny, M. A., Gigerenzer, G., Ablin, R. J. (2018). PSA-Screening – Möglicher Nutzen und Schaden. Deutsches Ärzteblatt.
• Hinneburg, J., Jenny, M. A. (2017). Informierte Entscheidungen – Verbesserung der Partizipation an gesundheitsbezogenen Entscheidungsprozessen in der Krebsfrüherkennung. Onkologische Pflege.
• Jenny, M. A. (2017). Improving risk literacy. HealthManagement.org
• Gigerenzer, G., Kuoni, J., Ritschard, R., Jenny, M. A., Held, A. (2016). Was Ärzte wissen müssen. Hessisches Ärzteblatt.
• Jenny, M. A. (2016). Fact boxes: A tool to immunize the public against vaccine misinformation. Healthnewsreview.org.
• van den Bos, W., Jenny, M. A. & Wulff, D. U. (2014). Open minded psychology. In: Moore, S. A. (ed.) Issues in Open Research Data. Pp. 107–127. London: Ubiquity Press. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ban.g