I work on the assumptions underneath: the ones people never examine, the ones cultures don't share, and the ones already built into the algorithms. Keynotes, workshops and serious games for organisations that need to think, not to be reassured.
Prof. Dr. Ana Adi — Professor of Public Relations and Corporate Communications, and Vice-President, at Quadriga University of Applied Sciences, Berlin. Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg. Fulbright Scholar. Host of the Women in PR podcast. Works in English, Spanish and Romanian — and, less elegantly, in three more.
Keynotes, workshops, serious games and AI capability training for communication, HR and leadership teams. I don't hand out five-point models. I open the question the model is hiding — and then we play with it until something shifts.
See what I bring into the room →As Scientific Lead at What If Advisory, I run a live global agenda on metamodern strategic communication with Dr Thomas Stoeckle. Published, peer-reviewed, openly tested — failures included. The advisory practice is Thomas's; the research is mine.
whatifadvisory.net →In 2022 Thomas Stoeckle and I asked whether metamodernism could guide research into the future of PR/Comms. We wanted something genuinely international, and ended up convening a research collective across timezones, academic cultures and languages — one that debated its own method rather than being handed one, and treated the data as the collective's rather than the principal investigators'. The global report went out open access, in two languages, before a single journal article did.
Everything below is grounded in research I have actually run — and delivered without the academic pretence. Audiences leave with a sharper question, not a tidier answer.
What generative AI does to communication work, what generative engine optimization can and cannot buy you, and where the record the models read is already contaminated. Findability is not reputation. Repetition is not corroboration. Useful as a provocateur; dangerous as an oracle.
Matrix games, simulations and arts-based methods that let teams rehearse uncertainty instead of being briefed about it. No dice, no win condition — actions succeed on the strength of the argument behind them. Play is how people think seriously.
What travels across markets and what quietly does not. Built from research across 23 countries in three working languages — so the session adapts to your audience's context rather than asking the audience to adapt to mine.
Social value is not social impact is not public value. Value arrives on three spectra — positive/negative, planned/accidental, desired/undesired — and most measurement frameworks only look at one corner. Statement, fact, data, evidence, proof: the differences are the work.
30–60 minutes, in English, Spanish or Romanian
Half-day to multi-session programmes
Simulations, matrix games, arts-based sessions
Applied studies, Delphi work, collaborations
How to commission: keynotes, workshops and training are contracted through Quadriga University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. Research and advisory commissions run through What If Advisory. Write to me either way and I'll route it.
Keynotes, panels and conference sessions — in English, Spanish and Romanian, in front of rooms that range from boards to student cohorts. Judge the room, not the promise.
Open the full playlist on YouTube →"We know our stuff re AI, and we continue to learn, experiment and evolve — one project, one use case, one agent after another. Thank you for your guidance."
"What I appreciated most: you didn't sell a solution. You opened a question."
"The research project that keeps on giving. Amazing journey."
Essays and field notes with Thomas Stoeckle, most weeks. No hype, no listicles — the thinking as it is being worked out, including the parts that don't resolve. It is where the research goes before it becomes an article.
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[ Ana Adi · Berlin ]
I studied in Romania, Belgium, the UK and — as a Fulbright Scholar — the United States, and I have been moving between cultures, disciplines and registers ever since: the peer-reviewed article, the keynote, the podcast, the dry joke.
My subject is assumptions. The ones people never turn on themselves, the ones cultures do not share and rarely notice they don't, and the ones already sitting inside the systems we ask to think for us. I cherish friction. I would rather a room left arguing than nodding.
So I translate research into something usable without oversimplifying it, and I use serious games to get there — because play lets people test a position they would never risk defending in a meeting. Playful explorations for serious thinking. I am told I am funny in a dry, sarcastic way; I am not going to adjudicate that here.
Reports published open access under Creative Commons, alongside the peer-reviewed work.
Special section, Public Relations Review — with Thomas Stoeckle
Taylor & Francis
16 authors, 6 countries — open access
The global report, two languages — open access
Competencies for the next decade — open access
Routledge
The blog is the working record: journal articles, chapters, reports, conference papers, industry talks, teaching, awards. Much of it predates what I now argue. I have left it that way on purpose — you can watch the position move.
[ Keynotes, workshops and training for ]
[ Research and industry collaborations with ]
Conferences, corporate events, leadership programmes, game-based sessions. Contracted through Quadriga University of Applied Sciences.
Get in touch →Applied studies, international collaborations, measurement and foresight work through What If Advisory with Thomas Stoeckle.
What If Advisory →