Victoria A. E. Kratel is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Institute of Media Studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Under the broader lens of intersectional feminism, her research interests lie in human-machine communication, agency theories, and digital disconnection.

Since March 2021 Victoria Kratel is a member of the research project “Disconnection as a tactic of self-assertion in the digital age” funded by the German research Foundation (DFG). Using a selection of different qualitative methods, she explores various questions on the subject of media non-use.
Passing on her knowledge, Victoria Kratel is also a lecturer for qualitative methods.

Victoria Kratel holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Management from the University of Applied Science Osnabrück and a Master's degree in Media Culture and Clobalization from the University of Bremen. During her studies, Victoria Kratel worked as a student assistant at the Center for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), completed a semester abroad in Thailand and worked in the aerospace industry.

Beginning in May 2023, Victoria will serve a two-year term as the Student and Early Career Representative for the Feminist Scholarship Division (FSD) of the International Communication Association (ICA).

Victoria Kratel has volunteered as a reviewer for academic journals such as New Media & Society and Convergence.

Kratel, V. A. E. (2022). The evolution of gendered software: Products, scientific reasoning, criticism, and tools. Human-Machine Communication, 5, 115-131. doi.org/10.30658/hmc.5.5

Altmaier, N., Kratel, V. A. E., Borchers, N. S., & Zurstiege, G. (2022/May). Contouring digital disconnection studies: A systematic mapping of an emerging field. 72nd Annual Conference of the ICA, Paris, France.

Kratel, V. A. E. (2022/May). Bildschirmzeit – Eigentum des Patriarchats? Eine intersektional-feministische Kritik am Forschungsstand der Disconnection Research. [Screentime – property of the patriarchy? An intersectional feminist critique of the state of disconnection research]. 4th Conference of the Network Critical Communication Studies, Vienna, Austria.

Kratel, V. A. E. (2021/September). Women (dis)connected: Zur Relation von Entnetzung, Zeit und dem weiblichen Geschlecht. [Women (dis)connected: on the relation of disconnection, time, and the female gender]. Joint Annual Conference of the Media, Publics & Gender, and the International & Intercultural Communication division in the DGPuK, Magdeburg, Germany.

Kratel, V. A. E., Altmaier, N., Borchers, N. S., & Zurstiege, G. (2022/May). International and interdisciplinary perspectives in disconnection studies: A systematic mapping review. Pre-Conference Digital Disconnection Studies Beyond Borders to the 72nd Annual Conference of the ICA, Paris, France.

Kratel, V. A. E., & Görland, S. O. (2022/May). Alexa, shut up! Gendered voice assistants and causes of verbal abuse. 72nd Annual Conference of the ICA, Paris, France.