Oliver Zöllner is a professor of media research, media sociology, digital ethics, broadcast journalism and inter­national communi­cation in the Digital and Media Economics programme at Stuttgart Media University. He also teaches as an honorary professor at Heinrich Heine Univer­sity Düssel­dorf. From 1997 to 2004 Zöllner was director of the market and media research department of Deutsche Welle, Germany's inter­national broad­caster. As a visiting lecturer he delivered communication and media research courses at various German univer­sities from 1996 to 2006.

Oliver Zöllner is an expert on questions of digitalisation, digital transformation and related aspects of reflexive media literacy and digital ethics. His areas of expertise also include forms of persuasive communi­cation, the strategic represen­tation of states in the system of international communication (public diplomacy, nation branding, competitive identity) as well as processes of identity formation in societies, e.g., in the context of migration debates or with a view to cultural minorities. Zöllner's academic roots lie in researching the role of communi­cation in large-scale organi­sations (media institu­tions, the military) and in the analysis of cultural artifacts (images, sounds, everyday objects, art) and the cultural practices associated with them. Formerly a journalist and management consultant, Zöllner attaches great importance to the public communi­cation of his research and his ideas and thus is a regular guest on the lecture circuit. At home he feels like a tourist.