At the end of February 2026, two of TraCe’s doctoral researchers successfully defended their dissertations. We warmly congratulate Laura Guntrum and Jona Schwerer.
Laura Guntrum’s dissertation investigates the ambivalent role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in activism in the Global South. Her work highlights both the emancipatory potential of digital technologies and the risks inherent in their use. Drawing on 111 interviews with activists in Myanmar, Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Colombia, she demonstrates that while ICTs facilitate political mobilization, they simultaneously expose activists to technology-facilitated violence, including hate speech, surveillance, and disinformation. Despite the often severe offline consequences, these forms of violence are often normalized. Therefore, the dissertation calls for stronger regulation, greater platform responsibility, and context-sensitive, participatory approaches to digital security centered on affected communities. Laura Guntrum defended her dissertation on February 26, 2026, at TU Darmstadt. The examination committee consisted of primary supervisor Christian Reuter and secondary supervisors Markus Lederer and Jonas Wolff. The other members of the committee were Sybille Frank and Tobias Ide.
Jona Schwerer completed his dissertation in the context of TraCe and the Collaborative Research Centre 1265 ‘Re-Figuration of Spaces’. His thesis builds on the analysis of existing debates on and approaches to public space in urban studies. By doing so, he develops an analytical concept of public spaces based on the sociology of public space in cities. This concept enables to understand the diverse and overlapping public spaces that currently characterize cities as different social processes of constructing spaces as public, and thus to analyze the simultaneity of different public spaces at places. Jona Schwerer defended his dissertation titled ‘Space and Public-ness: On the Social Construction of Public Spaces’ on February 27, 2026 at TU Darmstadt. The examination committee consisted of Sybille Frank as the first reviewer, and Martina Löw (TU Berlin) as the second reviewer. Nicolai Hannig and Gunter Weidenhaus (FH Münster) were also on the committee as examiners.