Department of Psychology Teaching Staff

Prof. Dr. Maren Urner

Professor Campus Cologne

B.Sc. Media and Business Psychology

M.Sc. Business Psychology

B.A. Journalism and Corporate Communication

M.A. Digital Journalism

m.urner[at]hmkw.de

“My experience is what I agree to attend to.”

William James

Background

Maren Urner studied Cognitive Science and Neuroscience in Germany, Canada and the Netherlands, before she did her PhD at University College London. In 2016 she co-founded Perspective Daily, Germany’s first advertisement-free online magazine for Constructive Journalism. Until March 2019 she led the editorial office as its editor-in-chief and was managing director of the company. In April 2019 she started as a lecturer in Media Psychology at the HMKW, in June her first book was published (German only: “Schluss mit dem täglichen Weltuntergang”) and in October she was appointed as professor.

Teaching

  • Information and Communication
  • Digital Games and Learning
  • Media Psychology
  • Journalism
  • Online Journalism
  • Corporate Communications
  • Convergence of Journalistic Media

Research and Teaching Focus

  • Psychological and neuronal information processing
  • Constructive and Solutions Journalism
  • Critical Thinking

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2009-2013

 

University College London (Great Britain), PhD in Neuroscience

2007-2009

Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands), MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience
2004-2007 University of Osnabrück (Germany) and McGill University (Canada), BSc in Cognitive Science

Work experience

2015-2019

 

Perspective Daily: co-founder, managing director and editor-in-chief

2009

Radboud University: research associate
2006-2007 University of Osnabrück: tutor
1999-2006 Neue Westfälische: freelance journalist      

Publications

Jüngling, D., Schwarzinger, D., & Urner, M. (2023). Smartphone use as a behavioral expression of mind wandering: Measuring the relationship between smartphone use, mind wandering, and reading performance in a low-cost, non-invasive, and remote way. Poster presented at Current Issues in Mind-Wandering Research – Theoretical Advances and New Empirical Findings. July 6-8. Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.

Urner, M. (2023). Warum Nachhaltigkeit immer im Kopf beginnt. In: Das Nachhaltigkeitsbuch 2023 (pp. 184-189). Stiftung Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis e.V.

Urner, M. (2022). SusTelling and Constructive Journalism: A Perfect Pair? In: Narrating Sustainability through Storytelling (p. 88-100). Routledge.

Urner, M. (2022). Fragen, was wirklich wichtig ist. In Resilienter Journalismus. Wie wir den öffentlichen Diskurs widerstandsfähiger machen (pp. 28-33). Herbert von Halem Verlag.

Urner, M., Michael E. Mann, Sara Schurmann, Michael Brüggemann, John Cook, Tanja Busse, Annika Joeres, Susanne Götze, Ellen Heinrichs, Özden Terli, Maik Meuser (Ed.) (2022). As writer: Relevanz, Framing und Konstruktiver Journalismus. Warum der Journalismus sich so schwer damit tut, die Klimakrise adäquat zu adressieren. In KLIMA° vor acht, Medien in der Klima-Krise (pp. 85-96). Oekom Verlag. https://www.oekom.de/buch/medien-in-der-klima-krise-9783962383855 (German)

Urner, M. (2022). Raus aus der Vorstellungskrise. Warum demokratischer Fortschritt im Kopf beginnt. In Zur Zukunft der Demokratie (Hrsg. Frank-Walter Steinmeier) (S. 273-281). Siedler Verlag.
Link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.de/Buch/Zur-Zukunft-der-Demokratie/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Siedler/e602468.rhd (German)

Urner, M. (2021). Konstruktiver (Lokal-)Journalismus. Was der Journalismus von den Neurowissenschaften lernen kann. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Link: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/a-p-b/18812.pdf (German)

Urner, M. (2021). Raus aus der ewigen Dauerkrise. Mit dem Denken von morgen die Probleme von heute lösen. Droemer Knaur. https://www.droemer-knaur.de/buch/prof-dr-maren-urner-raus-aus-der-ewigen-dauerkrise-9783426278413 (German)

Urner, M. (2021). SusTelling und Konstruktiver Journalismus: Ein perfektes Paar? In Nachhaltigkeit erzählen - Durch Storytelling besser kommunizieren? (pp. 115-31). Oekom Verlag. https://www.oekom.de/buch/nachhaltigkeit-erzaehlen-9783962382759 (German)

Maxton, G., Urner, M., Austen, F., & Sattler-Hovdar, N. (2020). Globaler Klimanotstand. München: Komplett Media. (German) https://www.komplett-media.de/de_globaler-klimanotstand_200454.html

Urner, M. (2019). Schluss mit dem täglichen Weltuntergang. Wie wir uns gegen die digitale Vermüllung unserer Gehirne wehren. München: Droemer Knaur. (German) https://www.droemer-knaur.de/buch/9621408/schluss-mit-dem-taeglichen-weltuntergang

Urner, M. & Langeslag, H. (2018). Warum sich Medien auf das Zukunftsnarrativ konzentrieren können und wie dies gelingt. In Zwischen Ohnmacht und Zuversicht (pp. 147-160), München: Oekom Verlag. (German)

Urner, M., Sarri, M., Manly, T., Grahn, J., Rees, G., Friston, K. (2013). The role of prestimulus activity in visual extinction. Neuropsychologia 51(8): 1630-7.

Urner, M., Schwarzkopf, D.S., Friston, K., Rees, G. (2013). Visual learning induces long-lasting connectivity changes during rest in the human brain. Neuroimage 77:148-56.

Urner, M., van Wingen, G., Rijpkema, M., Fernández, G., Tendolkar, I. (2011). Genetic variation of the alpha2b-adrenoceptor affects neural correlates of successful emotional memory formation. Human Brain Mapping 36(11), 2266-75.

Awards

2023 B.A.U.M. | Environmental and Sustainability Award in the category of "Science"

2017 Nominated for the Grimme Online Award in the category Knowledge and Education (Perspective Daily)

2017 Media award of the charity RUFZEICHEN GESUNDHEIT!

2017 ERM media award for sustainable development

2016 and 2017 German Council for Sustainable Development (Perspective Daily)

2015 Start-up award from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Perspective Daily)

Websites and blogs

Website https://maren-urner.com/

“Why objective journalism is a Fata Morgana” (Perspective Daily) https://perspective-daily.de/article/484/BfB6oO8k

Twitter-Account https://twitter.com/PositiveMaren