News

The DeGruyter Handbook of Digital Health and Society is out now! It features, among other things, the article  “Therapeutic Encounters with Chatbots: Towards a Sociological Approach to Human–Machine Communication”, co-authored by Sebastian Merkel. You can read it here.

Sebastian Merkel is co-organizing the symposium “Therapeutic Encounters with Chatbots: The Social and Ethical Implications of Artificial Therapeutic Agents”, which will take place on 01.07.2025. Read more here.

Sebastian Merkel is involved as a tandem partner in the Fellowship program of the College for Social Sciences and Humanities, collaborating with the senior fellows on interdisciplinary research projects at the University Alliance Ruhr, read more here.

Read the press release on the topic "What do care staff think about the use of smart speakers? Alexa meets retirement home" here.

Listen to the episode "Daten und Digitalisierung" of the podcast series "Was ist Urban Health?" here.

Projects

New project "Neues Projekt "PETRA - AI-gestützte edukative Therapiebegleitung für die Perimenopause", read more here.

The results report of the project "Healthcare Start-up Ökosystem NRW 2021" has now been published. Read the report here.

Publications

Merkel, Sebastian & Schorr, Sabrina 2025: “Identification of Use Cases, Target Groups, and Motivations Around Adopting Smart Speakers for Health Care and Social Care Settings: Scoping Review” read here.

Schorrr, Sabrina, 2024: "Alexa, schalte das Licht an!", read here or here.

Schorr, Sabrina; Merkel, Sebastian 2024: "Smart Speakers in Geriatric Care: Success Factors for Successful Implementation" read here.

Schorr, Sabrina; Klammer, Ute; Merkel, Sebastian 2024: "Attitudes of geriatric nursing staff towards digitalization in inpatient care using the example of 'smart speakers'“ read here.

Imeri, Aylin; Schorr, Sabrina; Merkel, Sebastian 2024:" Digital health applications and health literacy: an explorative analysis" read here.

Lauer, Romy; Merkel, Sebastian; Bosompem, Jennifer; Langer, Henrike; Naeve, Peter; Herten, Benjamin et al. 2024: "(Data-) Cooperatives in health and social care: a scoping review." read here.

Langer, Henrike & Merkel, Sebastian 2023: "Co-Designing a Conversational Agent in Health and Social Care – Perspectives of Professional Care Staff and Older Adults" read here.

Kucharski, Alexander & Merkel, Sebastian 2023: "Domestication of Smart Speakers by Older Users" read here.

Publications

Past

December 9, 2025, Merkel, S. “How Sociotechnical Imaginaries Shape Mental Health Chatbots: Findings from Interviews with Designers” University of Łódź (Poland).

December 2, 2025, Merkel, S. “Digitalisierung und Technik in Sozialimmobilien” soleo* Congress, Kevelaer.

November 20, 2025, Merkle, S. “(Un-)intendierte Folgen technischer Innovationen im Gesundheitssektor” 17th International Conference of the Austrian Society for Care & Case Management (ÖGCC), Linz (Austria).

November 21, 2025, Merkel, S. “AR/VR in Healthcare: Sociotechnical Imaginaries & Implementation” VR Summit, Bochum.

September 25, 2025, Merkel, S. “Pioneering Progress Innovations in Digital Health” Great Manchester Germany Summit, Manchester (UK).

September 23, 2025, Langer, H., Tietz, L. “Verstehen verbindet: Übersetzungstechnologien in der modernen Gesundheitsversorgung” 24th German Congress for Health Services Research 2025, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).

September 22, 2025. Schorr, S., Jasinski, J., Merkel, S. “Digitale Gesundheitskompetenz: Reproduktions- und Verstätigungsmuster bei Theorie und Messinstrumenten in wissenschaftlichen Publikationen – Ein Meta-Review” 24th German Congress for Health Services Research 2025, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).

July 1, 2025, Merkel, S. “Sociotechnical imaginaries held by developers of mental health chatbots” Therapeutic Encounters with Chatbots (TEwAI) Symposium, College for Social Science and Humanities, Essen.