Johanna Hiebl is a PhD candidate at the European New School of Digital Studies (ENS) at the European University Viadrina, located in Frankfurt (Oder)/Słubice. She works as a research assistant in the DFG-funded project War Sensing, directed by Prof. Dr. Miglė Bareikytė, within the Collaborative Research Centre Media of Cooperation (SFB 1187) at the University of Siegen.

Her dissertation project, tentatively titled Battlefield of Truth(s) on Investigative Frontlines: Participatory Open-Source Investigative Practices Producing Evidence Since the Russian Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine, explores how civilian open-source data practices in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine challenge conventional military and journalistic frameworks. She further examines the social dynamics that emerge through the participation of amateur investigators in these practices.

Johanna holds a B.A. in Slavic and German Studies from the University of Heidelberg and a German-Polish M.A. in Multicultural Communication from the European University Viadrina and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Since 2018, she has been actively contributing to initiatives at the intersection of academia and civil society at Viadrina, including Ukraine Calling. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she coordinated digital support projects for Ukrainian universities, facilitating the continuation of research and teaching under wartime conditions.