Prof. Petra Dickmann

Prof. Dickmann's research interest focuses around the role of risk communication in public health and health security. Her previous research has investigated the role of risk communication in infectious disease outbreaks, risk communication as core capacity within the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), an evaluation framework for risk communication interventions and risk communication methodologies. Building on this body of research, Petra is developing an international research programme focusing on drivers of earlier detection from a health system’s perspective.

She has published widely in internationally recognised journal is currently the chair of the Scientific Policy Advisory Board for Pandemic Management for the Federal State of Thuringia, Germany. She also leads a working group at the German National Academy of Sciences and Engineering.

Professional experience

Dr. Petra Dickmann MA, MBBS, MD, PhD directs the public health hub at Jena University Hospital and currently leads several research projects on “Pandemic Management” (BMBF and Federal State Funding). Petra is a risk communication expert with a strong background in humanities and medicine working at a global scale for both the public and private sector. She holds an MA in communication and completed her PhD in cultural and political sciences (HU Berlin & ETH Zurich) with interdisciplinary research on biosecurity. She is also a medical doctor by training (MBBS) and did her medical doctoral research (MD) in the field of infectious diseases and CBRN threats and their impact on public perception (King's College London & University Hospital Frankfurt).

Petra has held positions at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, at Frankfurt University Hospital (Department of Infectious Diseases) and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where she undertook research in international health policies, health security and the methodologies of a new risk communication paradigm. Petra has lead international field research during infectious diseases outbreak (Ebola, Zika, Avian Influenza) consulting with International Organisations (WHO, International Federations of the Red Cross, unicef, etc.) and spent over a decade collaborating with colleagues in regional diseases surveillance networks in Southern Europe, East Africa, Middle East and South East Asia.