Disinformation & Democracy sector plan

“My research bridges the fields of (comparative) political economy and political behaviour. Specifically, I am interested in better understanding the consequences of rising economic and social inequalities for the way in which our democracies work. To this end, I explore why citizens in unequal democracies seem to be disengaging from traditional forms of political participation."

"In my research, I focus on examining legal and policy responses to disinformation through the lens of the rule of law and fundamental rights. I investigate whether the measures introduced by the EU’s landmark legislation, including the Digital Services Act, the AI Act and the European Media Freedom Act, are adequate for safeguarding information integrity and enhancing democratic resilience. In conducting this critical analysis, I pay particular attention to understudied phenomena that threaten civic processes, such as gendered disinformation."

"My research integrates the fields of psychology, communication, and human-computer interaction (HCI) to examine how users navigate the digital world, with a particular focus on online toxicity that undermines democracies, including misinformation, disinformation, misleading information, and affective polarization. I investigate ways to understand and mitigate these risks by leveraging existing resources or developing new skills, such as media and digital literacy."

"My research lies at the intersection of law, technology, and society and examines the role of law in enabling or constraining forms of power within internet technologies (broadly understood). As a constitutional scholar, I investigate the extent to which internet technologies and their underlying political economy reshape our constitutional order. Conversely, I am also interested in how the vocabulary of constitutionalism is used to legitimize forms of corporate power."

"My research examines how uncertainty influences belief formation and the spread of disinformation, with implications for democratic resilience. Integrating insights from economics, psychology, and data science, I investigate cognitive mechanisms - such as economic preferences and illusory pattern perception - that make individuals susceptible to misinformation and politically framed fake news. My work also explores how these biases interact with digital information flows, shaping public discourse and polarization."

"My research examines how biased portrayals of gender-based violence - alongside the instrumentalization of AI - shape public perceptions, contribute to the minimization of violence, and fuel victim-blaming tendencies. I explore how misleading information about stalking and femicide victims impacts empathy and judgment among the public, as well as future law professionals and police officers. Additionally, I investigate how gendered disinformation contributes to growing polarization around gender policies in Europe."

“Debates on disinformation generally focus on distinguishing fact from falsehood. However, democracy depends not only on the accuracy of information, but also on its timing in the political process – and this timing in turn influences the accuracy of information. Information may be truthful, yet reach citizens and their democratic representatives too early or too late. My research thus looks at the role of time in media and politics."