Who are we?

Teaching and research Institute

The IPMZ is a teaching and research Institute at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zurich. The University has offered courses in the field of mass-media studies since the beginning of the 20th century. The Institute has officially been in existence since the beginning of the 1970s and has continuously expanded to take on new teaching and research activities. The key aspects of its research work to date can be seen in its publication series "Diskussionspunkt", and the main research currently being carried out can be seen here. The IPMZ plays a leading role in SwissGIS (the Swiss Centre for Studies on the Global Information Society), the interdisciplinary competence centre of Zurich University. Responsibility for putting scientific findings into practice lies with IPMZ transfer.

Studying mass communication

Mass-communication studies can be taken as a major subject at the IPMZ. The subject can also be taken as a subsidiary subject at the Faculty of Philosophy and in combination with subjects from other faculties.

Interdisciplinary team

At the IPMZ a team of approximately 80 employees with interdisciplinary educational backgrounds work in five research areas.

International orientation

The Institute’s staff are also involved in scientific societies such as SACM (Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research), DGPuK (German Association of Mass Communication and Communication Research), the Euro Media Group, IAMCR (the International Association for Media and Communication Research) and ICA (the International Communication Association).