Research

My research interests focus on the links between the micro and the meso level and include comparisons of organizations, institutions and differences between national contexts.

I prefer to connect my research to digitalization. I am convinced that digitalization opens new, additional ways for will formation and decision-making processes; however, traditional forms have not been fully replaced and, therefore, have to be taken into consideration.

By systematic comparisons of different cases within the OECD-world, I hope to contribute to the state of the art. Beyond the academic exchange, I regularly exchange with practinioners from civil society, public institutions, media, and the tech industry. 

Political Organizations and Institutions

My research mainly concerns political parties as well as civil society organizations. Both structure society and promote participation. Especially, when it comes to creating linkage and strengthening a democratic political culture, these actors are indispensable.

With a focus on parties, I suggest a Five-Pillar-Model of Parties Migration into the Digital. Following this model, I work on different bricks and pillars and find out more about parties' coping with challenges and possibilities. 

I am a founding member of the Digital Parties  and Politics Research Network, where colleagues from all over Europe collaborate. Please visit the Network's website for more information. If you would like to get in touch please send an email to DPPRN@uni-mainz.de. 

I serve as Vice-Chair in the  COST-Action RELINK² (CA23114)  that focuses on the connection of institutions, organizations, and citizens through web-based technologies. We started the action in October 2024 and are looking forward to the tasks ahead.

Please see our website: RELINK2 – CA23114 – Regaining linkage? Digital technologies improving civic engagement, political organisations and democracy

And our ORE Collection: About RELINK for Democracy | Collections | Open Research Europe

Politics and AI

Again, technology is changing our political and social environment tremendously. My research examines how artificial intelligence transforms political communication, governance, and public opinion. I explore both the opportunities AI offers for democratic innovation and the risks it poses to accountability, transparency, and trust in political institutions in an increasingly algorithmic world.

For one of the projects connected to this field, I included some items in a survey, exploring the digital political efficacy of respondents. First findings show that even those who demonstrate digital skills, are skeptical about their ability to detect AI-altered content. Effects on political efficacy or reported turnout are however low. 

One of my ongoing funding applications seeks to study best-practice cases of AI-agent inclusion for the democratic good. The dicision is still pending: Fingers crossed :-)

Political Communication and Social Media

Social media have undoubtedly been a game changer in communication. Especially, political actors have gained power, because they can communicate with the public without the filtering influence of media agencies.

This also has a potential effect on the competition between small and large political actors such as parties and CSOs.

While there is a lot of scholarly attention on Meta and X, Google is less explored. Some of my work looks at political ads facilitated through Googles platforms. I work with the data provided by Google's Ad Library.

My latest project, Reaching the Voter (with Felix-Christopher von Nostitz), is documented in the Gutenberg Open Science Repository and published Open Access.

Participation, Attitues, Behavior, and Public Opinion

I am also very interested in how digitalization changes party identity and affiliation. I am working on a grant proposal to shed light on this field of research. This project will employ a mix of different methods to understand concepts of the political self of citizens in the digital age. 

In this context, I conducted fieldwork in 2023 in Germany and in 2024 in Germany and 5 other European countries. The findings will be presented at the 2024 CES in Lyon and the 2024 DVPW Congress in Göttingen. The fieldwork conducted in 2024 is part of EU-PEOPLE2024.

I have been accompanied by election research since my studies in Würzburg. I was involved in the Würzburg-Barometer, a mixed-mode survey that targeted the population of Würzburg in terms of their voting behavior and their attitudes towards different topics such as social and institutional trust and religious belief. Later, this study branched out into the Bayernbarometer with a focus on Bavaria's population. I was part of a team of four students and one academic supervisor that coordinated the survey. Ever since, I have had a strong interest in survey methodology.