René is a journalist and deals with sustainable innovations in the media industry and strategies against fake news, hate speech and social bots.

In the past, he has reported on the consequences of climate change in India, portrayed a young American Jewish woman in Jerusalem on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, and spoke with Jordanian plumbers about the women's rights movement in Amman.

He studied German and sociology as well as educational science (B.A.) at the WWU Münster and digital journalism (M.A.) at the Hamburg Media School. In his master's thesis he dealt with the significance and consequences of fake news for German newsrooms.

In 2018, the Medium Magazine named him one of the "Top 30 to 30" young talents in journalism.