Research at Webster Vienna

New Edition of Danish Stakeholder Engagement Textbook Co-Authored by Prof. Pernille Eskerod

On April 22, 2025, Prof. Dr. Pernille Eskerod of Webster Vienna Private University and Associate Prof. Dr. Anna Lund Jepsen of the University of Southern Denmark published the second edition of their Danish-language textbook on project stakeholder analysis and engagement. The volume, titled Projektets Interessenter, is released by Djøf Forlag, Denmark’s leading academic publisher for research-based literature in business and management. Grounded in recent scholarly developments, the book is intended for both undergraduate and graduate students in project management courses. Its use of contemporary, practice-oriented case studies also makes it a relevant resource for professionals involved in project-based work.

Reference: Eskerod, P., & Jepsen, A. L. (2025). Projektets interessenter: Analyse og samspil (2nd ed.). Djøf Forlag.

Faculty — Business and Management

Faculty and Staff

Regaining cohesion: a study of discursive preconditions for mobilization in the Russia-Ukraine war - Anatoly Reshetnikov published an article in the Journal of International Relations and Development.

In this article, Reshetnikov investigates the discursive preconditions for massive mobilization during the first year and a half of the Russia-Ukraine war. He posits a question: How did efficient mobilization on both sides become initially possible and lasting, turning this conflict into the largest war in Europe since the World War II?

Contributing to the war-time mobilization literature, he proposes a discursive analytical model which helps overcome the reductionism of nomothetic explanations of mobilization, as well as systematizes the idiographic explanations of this phenomenon, revealing a bigger picture. Empirically, Reshetnikov reconstruct the conditions of possibility for mobilization in both Russia and Ukraine by analysing the rhetoric produced by the combatants who decided to join (or were coerced into joining) the fighting. Toward that end, Reshetnikov assembled and analysed a large database of public testimonies and identity statements coming from both sides.

Professor Bátora published an article in Journal of Common Market Studies analyzing private military and security companies and the EU’s security and defense actorness

In a new article published by Journal of Common Market Studies, professor Jozef Bátora from the IR Department at WVPU and his co-author Kamila Koníková (European Commission, Brussels) argue that extensive use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) makes the European Union (EU) an enmeshed security and defense actor. This is an actor spanning the public and the private domains as well as the resources, rules and practices of the EU member states and of EU-level institutions.

The findings in the article based on (a) an analysis of the EU's rules for contracting PMSCs and (b) a new data set of 564 PMSCs linked with the EU in the period 2014–2023 suggest that the EU and its member states systematically tap into resources of the private military and security industry in conducting their security and defense policies. As the authors suggest, the resulting enmeshment processes call for a reconceptualization of the EU as a security and defense actor.

Faculty — International Relations

Faculty and Staff

Dr. Anthony Löwstedt has received his habilitation (venia docendi) at the Department of Communication Science at the University of Vienna. Habilitation is the highest academic qualification in many European countries, including Austria and Germany. It serves as proof of a candidate's expertise and abilities to teach and conduct research independently. With the venia docendi, individuals may supervise doctoral candidates and research projects. Candidates for habilitation must demonstrate outstanding scientific qualifications and teaching experience at recognized post-secondary institutions, provide proof of excellent, published and independent academic work, and submit a  “Habilitationsschrift.” This is a thesis that must address a topic within the field for which the venia docendi is sought. It should represent a significant advancement over the candidate's doctoral dissertation. In Löwstedt's case, there were nine members of the habilitation committee and three external reviewers (from the U.S., Britain and Australia), and he passed the, also required, reviews and inaugural lectures unanimously.
 
Löwstedt’s habilitation thesis is titled Critique of Pure and Practical Communication. It refers to both theoretical and ethical foundations of communication. One of its main emphases is on the development of communication, in natural, as well as cultural contexts. It also investigates the regulation of mediated communication through the rule of law and other enforceable measures, and its self-regulation, especially through media councils, other deliberative accountability systems and applications of ethics codes and moral principles.   
 
In his research, Löwstedt traces the developmental, historical and evolutionary trajectories of information and communication technology. Furthermore, he explores the relationships between human rights, diversity, dignity and freedom as principles of media regulation along with institutionalized non-governmental, governmental and intergovernmental forces against censorship. The thesis also includes analyses of the concepts of globalization of communication, media diversity, cultural diversity and biocultural diversity, as well as the concepts of pre-modernity, modernity, post-modernity and trans-modernity and how they relate to racism and other intersecting forms of discrimination, oppression and exploitation. It outlines stages of escalation of racism in communication and maps the transcultural aspects of communication ethics values and the comparative ranges of core values in this regard.

Faculty — Strategic Communication

Faculty and Staff

Examining the Effects of ASMR on University Students’ Stress Levels

Maria Eugenia Rodrigues dos Reis, a recent graduate of Webster Vienna Private University’s Master of Arts in Psychology with an Emphasis in Counselling, has completed her master’s thesis on Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (hereafter, ASMR). ASMR is a sensory phenomenon characterized by a tingling sensation that begins at the scalp and moves down the spine, often triggered by repetitive stimuli such as whispering or light tapping. Gaining popularity as a relaxation technique, ASMR has been linked to temporary reductions in stress, chronic pain, and depression. This study explored ASMR’s effects on university students' stress levels, assessing its potential as a stress-relief method. The study hypothesized that ASMR would lower stress and influence physiological responses, such as heart rate.

A within-subjects experimental design was conducted with 20 participants, who completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) at five time points: before a baseline video, after a stress-inducing video, and after ASMR and animated video conditions. Participants also completed the Relaxation State Questionnaire (RSQ) to measure emotional responses. Physiological data were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-tests.

Results indicated no significant effect of ASMR on students’ physiological measures. While ASMR remains a popular relaxation tool, this study suggests its effectiveness may vary between individuals.

Faculty — Psychology

Faculty and Staff