Michael Prieler is a Professor, Deputy Head, and Research Director in the Department of Media and Communication.

Previously, he was a Professor and Graduate Program Director at Hallym University in South Korea, and he has also held visiting professorships at City University of Hong Kong and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

His research primarily focuses on advertising, new media, AI, health communication, and diversity in the media. He has collaborated with scholars worldwide and conducted research across Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa. Prof. Prieler has published extensively in renowned international journals, including Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication and Society, International Communication Gazette, Health Communication, Sex Roles, and the International Journal of Cultural Studies, among others. He is also the co-author of Advertising in the Aging Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Prof. Prieler is ranked among the top 0.5% of advertising scholars worldwide (ScholarGPS.com) and has been recognized for his outstanding contributions as both an educator and researcher, receiving the Best Teacher Award and the Distinguished Professor Award from Hallym University.

Advertising and marketing; Soft power and nation branding; AI in media and society; Social media; Media representations; Diversity in the media (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity); Media in aging societies; Digital inequalities; Health communication; Body image and beauty; Comparative research; Content analysis.

Previously Taught Undergraduate Courses:

• Media Representations in the Age of AI
• New Media and Society
• Advertising and Society
• Digital Marketing
• Fundamentals of Persuasion
• Communication Theory
• Media Audiences and Effects
• Media Representations
• Media and Culture
• International Communication
• Introduction to Communication
• Current Issues in News Media
• Intercultural Communication
• Popular Culture

Previously Taught Graduate Courses:

• Research Methods for Digital Contents
• Advertising and Society
• Diversity and the Media
• Digital Culture
• Research Methods in Communication I
• Media Research Methods
• Media and Soft Power
• Media Representations
• Comparative Media Studies
• Communication and Culture
• International Communication
• Research Methods for Communication and New Media
• Global Media in the Digital Era

Excellent Paper Award for the Paper “Depression news coverage in Chinese online media” (co-authored with L. Yan, Q. Zou, Y. Guo, and Y. Zhang) by the 12th Chinese Journalism and Communication Consortium, Changsha, June 2021.

Appointed as a “Hallym University Distinguished Professor” for being the most productive researcher in the social sciences and humanities in 2016 and 2017, March 2018–February 2020.

Recipient of the “2019 Best Teacher Award” at Hallym University, which is given to 3 selected professors each year, based on teaching evaluations and students’ comments.

Second Place Faculty Research Paper Award for the paper “Nudity of male and female characters in television advertising across the globe” (co-authored with Jörg Matthes) by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) at the AEJMC Conference, Hilton Minneapolis, Minneapolis, USA, August 2016.

Research Fellowship for Young Scholars from German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo, Japan (monthly stipend), March 2008–February 2009.

Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Doctoral Students from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology (MEXT), Japan (tuition, monthly stipend), April 2004–March 2007.

Monbukagakusho Scholarship for Research Students from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology (MEXT), Japan (tuition, monthly stipend), April 2003–March 2004.

Joint Study Scholarship from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria, as part of a cooperative venture between Tsukuba University and Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (tuition, monthly stipend), April 2001–July 2001.