Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Emma Hoes @emmahoes.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 New paper 🚨

Sexually explicit deepfakes 🤖 hurt politicians on almost all fronts...

This is the case ***even*** when people realized the image wasn't real 🤯, and effects are stronger for male 👨 than female 👩 candidates

Link to preprint: tinyurl.com/pnnkhfks

2 3

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Jane Green @profjanegreen.bsky.social · 12d

NEW!
In Liverpool for Labour Conference...

Starmer is concentrating on Reform but Labour shouldn't mistake their threat on the right, even in Leave voting heartlands.

Our new analysis w/ @martamiori.bsky.social explains:

politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Article - Nuffield Politics Research Centre

politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk

9 36 70

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Ronja Sczepanski @ronjasczepanski.bsky.social · Sep 1

Ever asked yourself how to detect and extract social groups from texts with computational social science? @haukelicht.bsky.social and me have a solution for you out at @bjpols.bsky.social. You can also find the pre-trained models on huggingface!

British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · Sep 1

NEW -

Detecting Group Mentions in Political Rhetoric A Supervised Learning Approach - cup.org/45WZppQ

- @haukelicht.bsky.social & @ronjasczepanski.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

BJPolS Abstract discussing a social science research method that uses text analysis for understanding group language patterns and political leanings, mentioning the use of British articles and generating new empirical insights.

2 32 93

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Manuel Tonneau @manueltonneau.bsky.social · Aug 28

Social media platforms operate globally, but do they allocate human moderation equitably across languages?

Our new WP shows the answer is no:

-Millions of users post in languages with zero moderators
-Where mods exist, mod count relative to content volume varies widely across langs

osf.io/amfws

2 11 18

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

UppsalaPeaceConflict @uupeace.bsky.social · Aug 14

We are looking for 1–2 postdoctoral researchers to join the project “Political Violence in Democracies”, led by @hannefjelde.bsky.social

📌 Full-time, 2-year postdoctoral position
📆 Start Date: Dec 1, (or by agreement)
📍 Location: Uppsala
⏳ Apply by: Oct 1

Read more: www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

1 25 23

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · Aug 6

We built the simplest possible social media platform. No algorithms. No ads. Just LLM agents posting and following.

It still became a polarization machine.

Then we tried six interventions to fix social media.

The results were… not what we expected.

arxiv.org/abs/2508.03385

Can We Fix Social Media? Testing Prosocial Interventions using Generative Social Simulation

Social media platforms have been widely linked to societal harms, including rising polarization and the erosion of constructive debate. Can these problems be mitigated through prosocial interventions?...

arxiv.org

13 99 290

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Manuel Tonneau @manueltonneau.bsky.social · Jul 31

🏆 Thrilled to share that our HateDay paper has received an Outstanding Paper Award at #ACL2025

Big thanks to my wonderful co-authors: @deeliu97.bsky.social, Niyati, @computermacgyver.bsky.social, Sam, Victor, and @paul-rottger.bsky.social!

Thread 👇and data avail at huggingface.co/datasets/man...

2 7 29

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Vicente Valentim @valentimvicente.bsky.social · Jul 31

We have a new paper out in @jepsjournal.bsky.social, with @laiabalcells.bsky.social, @sergisme.bsky.social and Ethan vanderWilden.

We test a number of experimental treatments aimed at strengthening social norms against radical-right support, but find mostly null results.

1/3

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · Jul 31

#OpenAccess from @jepsjournal.bsky.social -

Re-Stigmatizing the Radical Right: A One-Way Street? - cup.org/45s4Huh

- @laiabalcells.bsky.social, @sergisme.bsky.social, @valentimvicente.bsky.social & Ethan vanderWilden

#FirstView

2 24 66

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Delia Zollinger @dpzollinger.bsky.social · Jul 29

Even in times of sociocultural conflict, a progressive left electorate is more averse to sociocultural *and* socioeconomic inequalities than (far) right voters.

New paper with @siljahausermann.bsky.social Palmtag @tabouchadi.bsky.social @stefwalter.bsky.social Berkinshaw
tinyurl.com/d42wyb79

1/n

4 32 87

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Theodore Tallent @theodoretallent.bsky.social · Jul 25

🚨New working paper 🚨

Excited to share my new working paper on rural discontent with climate policies in Europe.

As the climate backlash materialises, especially in rural places, I ask: why do people oppose the green transition in rural areas?

A quick 🧵

The paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

3 19 52

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

António Valentim @antvalentim.bsky.social · Jul 25

1/ New paper out in Electoral Studies with @heikekluever.bsky.social and @cornelius-erfort.bsky.social
We show that nuclear power plants reduce electoral support for Green parties in Germany.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A thread on the paper:

How nuclear power hurts the Greens: Evidence from German nuclear power plants

What are the electoral consequences of nuclear energy for Green parties? Despite the centrality of nuclear opposition to Green party platforms, and th…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 19 62

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Joshua Tucker @jatucker.bsky.social · Jul 16

🧵1/
🚨 A new kind of political science textbook has arrived—and it might just disrupt the entire textbook industry. It’s called A Political Science Experiment, and here’s why you should care. 👇
🔗 politicsexperiment.com

Home Page - A Political Science Experiment

politicsexperiment.com

1 11 38

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Stefan Müller @stefanmueller.bsky.social · Jul 15

‘Campaign Communication and Legislative Leadership’ (with Naofumi Fujimura) appeared in the latest issue of Political Science Research and Methods.

Paper (open access): doi.org/10.1017/psrm...
@psrm.bsky.social

Thread below 🧵 1/7

Abstract

Do policy priorities that candidates emphasize during election campaigns predict their subsequent legislative activities? We study this question by assembling novel data on legislative leadership posts held by Japanese politicians and using a fine-tuned transformer-based machine learning model to classify policy areas in over 46,900 statements from 1270 candidate manifestos across five elections. We find that a higher emphasis on a policy issue increases the probability of securing a legislative post in the same area. This relationship remains consistent across multiple elections and persists even when accounting for candidates' previous legislative leadership roles. We also discover greater congruence in distributive policy areas. Our findings indicate that campaigns provide meaningful signals of policy priorities.

1 4 22

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Maksim Zubok @antndlcrx.bsky.social · Jul 9

Excited to announce the #OxfordLLMs tuition-free AI workshop for social scientists!

Join us for 5 days of lectures, coding tutorials, and collaborative research, to learn hot to use LLMs for social science🙂

Dates: 22-26 September
Venue: @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social
llmsforsocialscience.net

Oxford LLMs

A Workshop for Social Science Researchers

llmsforsocialscience.net

2 16 15

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Danbischof @danbischof.bsky.social · Jul 10

Can banning political ideologies protect democracy? 🛡️🆚🗣️

Our (w. @valentimvicente.bsky.social) paper finds: punishing individuals might backfire. We study a West German policy banning "extreme left" individuals from working for the state.

#Democracy #PoliticalScience

🧵

url: osf.io/usqdb_v2

7 38 110

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Theodore Tallent @theodoretallent.bsky.social · Jul 1

Excited to share that my first single-authored article is now published in @wepsocial.bsky.social!

In light of the current backlash to climate policy, I explore the (rural) geography of support for climate policies in Europe.

🧵
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A green divide? Climate policy support and its rural geography in Europe

Opposition to the green transition is often attributed to the direct costs of climate policies, with particularly vulnerable individuals perceived as more resistant. While recent studies suggest ru...

www.tandfonline.com

4 16 61

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Silja Häusermann @siljahausermann.bsky.social · Jul 7

❗The segmentation of the right field is eroding, especially among young voters❗

New article out by @simonbornschier.bsky.social @dpzollinger.bsky.social
@mrsteenbergen.bsky.social and myself
@ipz.bsky.social ‬ @wepsocial.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/ycxfx2aj

A short 🧵

1/7

5 59 150

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Giorgio Malet @giorgiomalet.bsky.social · Jul 4

Together with @jellekoedam.bsky.social, @tinepaulsen.bsky.social, and @nicolaiberk.bsky.social, we brought together an amazing group of researchers doing exciting work here in Zurich — and it turned into a super fun, engaging workshop. Huge thanks to everyone who joined and made it so special!

5 12 54

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Fabio Votta📊🐧 @favstats.eu · Mar 27

I was curious to see how academic articles in (Political) Communication and Political Science are being shared on X vs. Bluesky.

I find: In 2024, academic articles in our field seem to be clearly more shared on X. But by 2025, Bluesky is catching up fast.

Short 🧵 1/n

7 82 230

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Tobias Dienlin @tobiasdienlin.com · Mar 3

I'm hiring! I'm looking for 1️⃣ pre-doc and 2️⃣ post-docs.

If you're fascinated by media effects, quantitative methods, and open science, please consider applying 🙂

International applications welcome!

Application Pre-doc: jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

Application Post-doc: jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

About the position
• 3-year Ph.D. position (60%, paid according to cantonal salary scheme)
• Can be extended by another 17 months
• Workplace is Zurich

What will be your main tasks?
• Conduct a Ph.D. thesis in the field of communication, media psychology, and media effects
• Publish in leading academic journals; present at conferences; engage in outreach
• Teach courses on media effects, methods, and statistics at BA and MA levels
• Take part in doctoral training programmes offered by UZH and IKMZ
• Participate in organisational or administrative tasks as required

What should you bring to the team?
• Master’s degree in communication science, psychology, or a related discipline
• Strong interest in research on media effects, including topics such as social media, well-being, privacy, AI, or media effects theory
• Expertise in quantitative research methods
• Proficiency in (or openness to learn) R, open science practices, and advanced statistics
• Proficiency in English; knowledge of German is desirable but not mandatory

What do we offer you?
• Great background and support for high quality research
• Much freedom to develop your own research interest within the topics of the division
• Dynamic and supportive team with a collegial and inspiring working atmosphere
• Excellent track record of the department in academic career development

How to apply
Please send the following documents as a single PDF file using UZH’s job portal (see link in post):
• Letter of motivation (including ideas for your Ph.D. project; max. 2 pages)
• Your CV (including a list of scientific publications and presentations, if applicable)
• MA thesis or equivalent, research publications if already applicable
• Copies of degrees and relevant transcripts

Deadline for applications is March 16, 2025
Applications arriving later will also be considered if no candidate has been selected until then
The position starts in April or by agreement

About the position
• 3-year postdoctoral position (80%, paid according to cantonal salary scheme)
• One position can be extended up to 3 years, the other up to 6 years
• Workplace is Zurich

What will be your main tasks?
• Conduct research in the field of communication, media psychology, and media effects
• Lead your own projects and collaborate in team projects
• Publish in leading academic journals; present at conferences; engage in outreach
• Teach courses on media effects, methods, and statistics at BA, MA, and Ph.D. levels
• Take part in supporting and training predocs at the division
• Engage in third party funding activities
• Participate in organisational or administrative tasks as required

What should you bring to the team?
• Doctoral degree in communication science, psychology, or a related discipline
• Strong interest in research on media effects, including topics such as social media, well-being, privacy, AI, or media effects theory
• Expertise in quantitative research methods
• Proficiency in (or openness to learn) R, open science practices, and advanced statistics
• Proficiency in English; knowledge of German is desirable but not mandatory

What do we offer you?
• Great background and support for high quality research
• Much freedom to develop your own research interest within the topics of the division
• Dynamic and supportive team with a collegial and inspiring working atmosphere

Please send the following documents as a single PDF file using UZH’s job portal (see link in post):
• Letter of motivation (including ideas for future research projects; max. 2 pages)
• Your CV (including a list of scientific publications and conference presentations)
• Full-texts of up to three sample publications & PhD dissertation
• Copies of degrees and relevant transcripts

Deadline for applications is March 16, 2025
Applications arriving later will also be considered if no candidate has been selected until then
The position starts in April or by agreement

51 64

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · Feb 27

In our new working paper, we causally identify the electoral effects of so-called "LGBT-free zones" in Poland. We show that the introduction of these zones led to more support for the PiS government. The role of anti-LGBTQ policies for authoritarians is unfortunately very timely. More details below.

Violeta Haas @haasvioleta.bsky.social · Feb 27

New working paper! In this research note, @bogatyrev.bsky.social, @tabouchadi.bsky.social, @heikekluever.bsky.social, @lstoetze.bsky.social, and I present the first systematic test that causally identifies the electoral consequences of state-sponsored homophobia:
osf.io/preprints/os...

🧵Thread

1 25 91

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Violeta Haas @haasvioleta.bsky.social · Feb 27

New working paper! In this research note, @bogatyrev.bsky.social, @tabouchadi.bsky.social, @heikekluever.bsky.social, @lstoetze.bsky.social, and I present the first systematic test that causally identifies the electoral consequences of state-sponsored homophobia:
osf.io/preprints/os...

🧵Thread

3 60 150

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Florian Foos @florianfoos.bsky.social · Feb 7

We have a new LSE Postdoctoral Fellow position in Political Behaviour (with some regional focus on Comparative European politics or EU politics). You can contact @sarahobolt.bsky.social @mathiaspoertner.bsky.social or me with any questions.
Deadline is 7 March: jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

LSE Fellow in Political Behaviour

LSE Fellow in Political Behaviour, , LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university <p style="text-align: cen...

jobs.lse.ac.uk

1 22 37

Reposted by Giuliano Formisano

Maria Puolakkainen @marialingon.bsky.social · Jan 17

Call for abstracts by 31 Jan: Rising Scholars Workshop on Comparative Politics in Latin America at Nuffield College, Oxford on March 10-11! 2-day event for early career scholars to workshop their papers with senior discussants. Seeking abstracts on a wide range of CP topics. Please share widely.

1 14 14

Giuliano Formisano @giulianoformisano.bsky.social · Jan 16

Congrats @catarinaleao.bsky.social !! 🥳🎉

1 1