Digital Public Health examines the potential, prerequisites, and implications of digitalization for public health. It focuses on digital technologies and data-driven infrastructures used in prevention, health promotion, and nursing and medical care. In this context, digital applications—such as mobile health apps, AI-supported systems, or platform-based care models—are not viewed in isolation but are analyzed within their social, organizational, legal, and ethical contexts. Digital Public Health thus views digitalization as a structural transformation process of the health care system that must be designed in an evidence-based, equitable, and sustainable manner.

The Chair of Digital Public Health at the University of Siegen investigates the development, evaluation, and implementation of digital interventions and technologies throughout the entire innovation cycle—from theory-driven design through empirical testing to sustainable integration into care structures. A particular focus is placed on user-centeredness, participation, and diversity. Digital innovations are consistently examined from the perspective of different target groups, particularly with regard to vulnerability, health inequities, and issues of digital health literacy.

A central research focus is on health care delivery and implementation research. Here, acceptance, adoption, adherence, and long-term use of digital applications are examined, as are organizational prerequisites and governance structures. Theoretical models of technology acceptance, concepts from implementation research, and approaches from health literacy and inequality research are systematically integrated and further developed. The goal is to establish a robust theoretical and empirical foundation for an effective digital transformation of the healthcare system.

Legal and ethical issues—such as those related to data protection, AI regulation, interoperability, or the attribution of responsibility in digitally supported decision-making processes—are an integral part of the research. Methodologically, the professorship employs quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs and continues to develop evaluation approaches for complex digital interventions. The research is networked nationally and internationally, heavily reliant on third-party funding, and closely linked to stakeholders from academia, politics, and healthcare practice.

The goal is to provide evidence-based decision-making foundations for policy and practice and to shape the digital transformation in healthcare in a scientifically sound, participatory, and responsible manner.