EPSS Travel Grants for 2026 Belfast conference:
PhD students & junior scholars @ institutions in European countries that are often underrepresented, can apply for full fee waiver & £500 stipend
Apply: lnkd.in/ehXjhCgf
Deadline: March 8, 11:59pm GMT.
More details: lnkd.in/eZTP5sWR
Uganda has shut down the internet again - ahead of tomorrow's elections. This is bad news for those monitoring the elections, it is bad news for the spread of rumours, and it is bad news for holding perpetrators of election-related violence accountable.
Why is #Politics so negative right now? 🤔
Ming M. Boyer @carolinaplescia.bsky.social & André Blais finds two kinds of negativity:
⚡ #Voting against a candidate
⚡ Feeling like voting doesn’t matter at all
Only one threatens #Democracy--and it’s not the one you think. 👀
Had a great time at the @zweitstimme.bsky.social Workshop on Elections, Public Opinion & Elite Behavior.
I presented my work on why minority groups vote, and how these motivations relate to turnout among LGB and ethnic minorities.
Amazing conversations and a very inspiring group!
🚨New paper out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/1350...
@manuelwagner.bsky.social & I re-conceptualize class representation to take into account social mobility between classes and variation in how individuals enter politics.
Although not yet available to read (January 2026!), very happy to see our book on political trust online. Co-edited with @mfair.bsky.social and available open access, we think it'll be a useful addition to the field.
www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/a-r...
Abstract of the article "How populist citizens see the people and their place in representative democracy" by Rosa Kindt, Robert A. Huber and Kristof Jacobs. Published online first in West European Politics.
Figure 2, displaying the comparison of high and low populists' marginal means on whether politicians belong to the people.
Figure 3, displaying the comparison of marginal means per attribute on the economical dimension in relation to 'belonging to the people'.
Figure 4, displaying the comparison of marginal means per attribute on the cultural dimension in relation to 'belonging to the people'.
💥Online first:
"How populist citizens see the people and their place in representative democracy"
by Rosa Kindt @robert-a-huber.bsky.social & @kristofjacobs1.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
Join us next week!
Anna Lia Brunetti (@univie.ac.at ) & @beluabdala.bsky.social (@unisalzburg.bsky.social) will be presenting their work on the moderating role of citizen's meanings of voting.
Sarah Birch (KCL) and Carolien van Ham (@radboudpol.bsky.social) will discuss.
Check out these *amazing* papers on the adoption, use, and effects of postal voting!
Including a little self-promo 🎉: my article on how the direct cost of voting shapes citizens’ preferences for postal, in-person, or internet voting.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Last Friday (Sept. 19), @andduer.bsky.social, @mcortinaescudero.bsky.social, @yavuzmehmet.bsky.social and I had the great pleasure of hosting an excellent workshop at @unisalzburg.bsky.social on how to use Large Language Models #LLMs to boost International Relations research. A short 🧵1/4
‼️ There are a few more days left to apply for the PhD positions in my group at KU Leuven. Make sure to send in applications by July 4! 👇
Thrilled to share that "The Meanings of Voting for Citizens" is out with OUP!
Loved working on this with brilliant mentors, co-authors, and friends
📘 The book (open access) explores how people think about voting and how these meanings influence participation
📊 And the data’s open too via AUSSDA
Absolutely incredible turnout for Budapest Pride! So proud of all the organizers, including some old friends, who estimate hundreds of thousands— major embarrassment to Orban
Doing important things at @epsanet.bsky.social …like locating the one veg canapé at the reception 👀
@stawi-univie.bsky.social
@bseisl.bsky.social
@mkaltenegger.bsky.social
@alexanderdalheimer.bsky.social
@marvins.bsky.social
@elenaheinz.bsky.social
@mascakir.bsky.social
@thomasmmeyer.bsky.social
🚨EPSA alert 🚨 @priera.bsky.social and I are organizing a pre-EPSA conference on political institutions on Wed 25 June. Same location as EPSA - Room 0.A.04. We've an amazing line-up of fantastic junior colleagues matched with more senior discussants. All EPSA attendees can attend and are welcome
I'm recruiting 2 PhD researchers to work with me on a project studying how social groups influence vote choices!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
Some exciting news!
Today’s my first day at @unisalzburg.bsky.social, joining the DEUDEM team (sites.google.com/view/deudem) with @mblauberger.bsky.social to study democratic backsliding in the EU.
Thrilled to be part of this project 💫
And what a view to kick things off! 🤩
Systematic peer-reviewed assessment showing the fundamental flaws of the Cass Review. Many in politics and beyond have used the Cass report to justify the erosion of gender-affirming care. This study is a litmus test for those who claim to "follow the science" on the topic.
Measuring electoral democracy with observables Most cross-national indices of democracy rely centrally on coder judgments, which are susceptible to bias and error, and require expensive and time consuming coding by experts. We present an approach to measurement based on observables that aim to preserve the nuanced quality of subjectively coded democracy indices. Our observable-to-subjective score mapping is free of idiosyncratic coder errors arising from misinformation, slack, or biases. It is less susceptible to systematic bias that may arise from coders’ inferences about a country’s regime, for example, from the ideology of the ruler. The data collection procedure and mode of analysis are fully transparent and replicable, and the procedure is based on random forests and is cheap to produce, easy to update, and offers coverage for all polities with sovereign or semisovereign status, surpassing the sample of any existing index. We show that this expansive coverage makes a big difference to our understanding of some causal questions.
A few years ago, @danweitzel.net, John Gerring, @skaaning.bsky.social and I were curious how well one could predict subjective democracy measures using easy(ish) to code observables. Turns out, *quite* well, even out of sample. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🎉 Das Warten hat ein Ende: Das Programm für das Pint of Science Festival 2025 in #Wien ist online! 🍻🧠
Vom 19. bis 21. Mai erwarten euch zahlreiche spannende Vorträge in gemütlicher Atmosphäre.
Alle Details und Tickets findet ihr hier: pintofscience.at/events/wien
#Pint25AT
Call for Papers!
📢 6th Annual Digital Democracy Workshop
🏫 University of Zurich
📅 13-14 November 2025
⏳ Deadline to submit paper abstracts: 31 May 2025
democracy.dsi.uzh.ch/app/uploads/...
This is such an amazing opportunity to learn more about computational methods and connect with inspiring women*! Can't recommend it enough.
🏳️🌈 Join us for our April webinar with @grahn.bsky.social this Thursday!
🧐 Michal will present his new insights on how negative messages affect support for trans rights in tolerant societies.
📆 Be sure to mark your calendars!
Thanks so much, Filip!
Muchísimas gracias! 🎉
Thank you so much! Fueron las mejores vacaciones de la historia 🤩
Thank you so much! 🤩
✨Big news✨ I successfully defended my PhD last month! Still can’t quite believe it. So grateful to everyone who made it possible, especially my amazing supervisors @carolinaplescia.bsky.social @rdassonneville.bsky.social & committee @turnbulldugarte.com @zeynsom.bsky.social @thomasmmeyer.bsky.social
Huge congrats!! 🎉
