Markus Georg Thomas Heidingsfelder is Assistant Professor in XMUM’s School of Arts & Sciences, where he teaches courses on art, media history, and international communication. He received his MA in 2000 from the University of Cologne and his doctorate summa cum laude in 2009 from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, and has since taught and conducted research at many universities in Germany (LMU Munich, HCU Hamburg, FU Berlin). In 2014, he moved to Karachi, to help build up Pakistan’s first liberal arts institution, Habib University, where he directed the first Communication Studies & Design curriculum and co-founded the university’s Center for Media & Design. In 2019 he moved to Malaysia and joined the journalism program of China’s first overseas institution, Xiamen University Malaysia. Heidingsfelder is the author of System Pop (2012) and Trump – beobachtet (Observing Trump, 2020) and has published several books as co-author and co-editor, as well as a number of academic journals (Cybernetics & Human Knowing, IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies, Kybernetes). His recent bi-lingual publication Corona – Weltgesellschaft im Ausnahmezustand? (Corona – World Society in a State of Emergency?) brings together scientists from different scientific disciplines (sociology, psychology, theology, political science, history etc.) to take a first look at the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the different areas of society.
Besides his academic credentials, Dr. Heidingsfelder has over 30 years of overlapping experience as a communications professional – 10 years as editor-in-chief and tv producer (MTV, Viva Television), 20 years as a film writer and director, and 30 years as an independent print and online journalist for several newspapers and magazines (Spex, Rolling Stone, taz, Die Welt, Zeit Online a.o.).