Dr. Dorna Safaian is a researcher in the field of visual and media studies. She studied art history, media theory, philosophy/aesthetics and media art in Heidelberg and Karlsruhe. Besides her academic studies, she has also worked as a writer and freelance author for the radio. She currently works as a research assistant at the University of Freiburg on the collaborative research project "Heroes - Heroizations - Heroisms", where she studies the visualisation of political authority and heroic figures in social networks. Her research interests lie in the areas of political images, digital images and the visual culture of protest/social movements.