Team

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler M.D., Ph.D., M.M.Sc., Assoc.Prof.
Principal Investigator

Phone: +43 (0)1 40160 - 34611
E-Mail: thomas.niederkrotenthaler@meduniwien.ac.at

Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, MD is a PhD in mental health & behavioral medicine, and holds a master’s degree in Public Health Sciences / Suicide Prevention. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Thomas has previously worked as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in Atlanta, USA, and has been involved in the planning and implementation of the Austrian National Suicide Prevention Plan (SUPRA). His main research areas are the roles of mass media in suicide prevention, suicide epidemiology across the lifespan with a particular focus on parental risk factors for suicidal behavior, marginalization of young suicide attempters on the labor market, and mental health services research. Further research has focused on child maltreatment and environmental disaster response, with particular focus on behavioral risk factors for injury and mental health. He has so far published more than 40 articles and book chapters on intentional injury prevention, with most of them focusing on the relationship of media and suicide. He is the current co-chair of the Suicide and the Media Task Force of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (» IASP) and founding chairman of the Wiener Werkstätte for Suicide Research (» www.suizidforschung.at). He is currently collaborating with several universities internationally, including Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and Columbia University (USA) on suicide-preventive projects. For his work as the founding chairman of the Wiener Werkstätte for Suicide Research he received the Erwin Ringel Award from the Austrian Society for Suicide Prevention in 2010 and the Hans Rost Award from the German Association for Suicide Prevention in 2012.

Benedikt Till D.Sc.

Phone: +43 (0)1 40160 - 34615
E-Mail: benedikt.till@meduniwien.ac.at

Benedikt Till, DSc, is a Research Scientist with doctoral degree in psychology (major: media psychology) and works in the field of media psychology, communication and suicide research and his research focus lies on the impact of mass media on suicidality. He is he is a founding member of the Wiener Werkstaette for Suicide Research, the Austrian platform for interdisciplinary suicide research and prevention (» www.suizidforschung.at) as well as member of the International Communication Association (ICA), the International Association of Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the International Media and Suicide Task Force of the IASP. His research comprises quantitative (e.g. analysis of questionnaires via SPSS and Amos) and qualitative methods (e.g. analysis of interviews, group discussions and textual contents via Documentary Method or Content Analysis). In 2011 he received the Star Award of the International Academy of Suicide Research (IASR) and his work involving the Wiener Werkstaette for Suicide Research was awarded with the Erwin Ringel Award in 2010 and the Hans Rost Award in 2012.