Award for strong science communication at TU Dortmund University

Success for TU Dortmund University's science communication: the university has come second in the idw prize for the best science press releases of 2025. The award went to a press release on the error-proneness of AI voting aids - a topic of high social relevance in which researchers from the Department of Computer Science were significantly involved.

The award-winning press release entitled "Before the 2025 Bundestag election: TU Dortmund University team investigates the susceptibility to errors of AI voting aids" reports on a study by researchers from TU Dortmund University and the Research Center Trustworthy Data Science and Security of the University Alliance Ruhr. Shortly before the early federal elections in 2025, they analyzed two new AI election assistance tools - with a clear result: Anyone who asks these systems about the positions of political parties often receives incorrect answers.

The Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw) honors particularly successful science communication with its annual award. From around 20,000 press releases from more than 1,000 scientific institutions, a jury selects articles that stand out for their journalistic quality, high news value and convincing presentation of complex topics. A total of 98 press offices took part in this year's competition.

For jury member and NDR information journalist Korinna Hennig, the award-winning text was particularly convincing due to its clear structure and comprehensible language. The fact that the press release makes the social relevance of the research clear in the very first sentences and clearly explains complex relationships was particularly emphasized. The additional background information and examples also facilitated further journalistic processing.

The award also underlines the importance of good science communication at TU Dortmund University. In the field of computer science in particular, research results are produced that provide an important basis for social debates - for example on artificial intelligence and its role in democratic processes. Communicating them in an understandable and transparent way is a central component of scientific work.

The topic of communication is also the subject of intensive scientific research at TU Dortmund University. The "Media Doctor" project at the Institute of Journalism Studies has been developing quality criteria for journalistic articles and press releases for more than 15 years. Most recently, the team led by Prof. Holger Wormer, together with Marcus Anhäuser, "Scientist in Residence" at the interface of journalism and university communication, developed criteria specifically for science communication in the field of artificial intelligence.

In the current competition, first place went to the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) and third place to Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The prize money can be used by the winning teams for further quality assurance and development of their communication work.