New website, finally 🎉 After a long-overdue refresh, my academic site is live at www.emmahoes.com!

Emma Hoes — Political Scientist & Experimentalist, University of Zurich

Political scientist and experimentalist at the University of Zurich studying how digital technologies shape the information ecosystem.

emmahoes.com

Explore #ecprms training tracks & find the right course for your research Quantitative, Causal and Survey Methods 🎯 Best if you work with surveys, experiments, causal inference & quant research projects 👨‍🏫 @alexmoise.bsky.social @gloriagennaro.bsky.social @na-wehl.bsky.social @emmahoes.bsky.social

Discover track

8 – 10 September 2026, Jagiellonian University, Kraków

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Learn to develop a Pre-Analysis Plan ready for registration and fielding + hands-on experience in design, measurement, and analysis 🔥 at our NEW 🚀 #ecprms course 📆8-11 Sep, Jagiellonian University & 14–15 Sep, Online 👨‍🏫 @emmahoes.bsky.social 🔐FREE observer access to #ecprgc26 🐦️£55 off until 2 Jun

Book now

ECPR Methods School at the General Conference

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Next week #CESS will be hosting @emmahoes.bsky.social (University of Zurich) for talk on VIRENA, a virtual arena where AI agents and humans interact in realistic, simulated social networks. Join us on 15 May 2026 | 10:00 BUW, Room 2.90. Details: bit.ly/4w6coSw

Excited to be teaching this one! Come with a rough research idea and leave with a complete, ready-to-field Pre-Analysis Plan. Five half-days, fully applied, no frontal lecturing — just you, your RQ, and a solid experimental design. See you in Krakow 🎉

European Consortium for Political Research@ecpr.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Are you looking to turn a rough research idea into a fully designed, publishable study? 🔥 Join our NEW 🚀#ecprms course 📆 8-11 Sep, Jagiellonian University & 14–15 Sep, Online 👨‍🏫 @emmahoes.bsky.social 🔐 Get FREE observer access to #ecprgc26 🐦️ Save £55 by 2 Jun 💰️ Funding open until 13 May

Are you looking to turn a rough research idea into a fully designed, publishable study? 🔥 Join our NEW 🚀#ecprms course 📆 8-11 Sep, Jagiellonian University & 14–15 Sep, Online 👨‍🏫 @emmahoes.bsky.social 🔐 Get FREE observer access to #ecprgc26 🐦️ Save £55 by 2 Jun 💰️ Funding open until 13 May

Secure your space now

ECPR Methods School at the General Conference

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Many thanks to the project leads: Leiden: @tomlouwerse.nl (Co-PI) Zurich: @fgilardi.bsky.social & @emmahoes.bsky.social Leuven: @rdassonneville.bsky.social & @bzar.bsky.social Edinburgh: Adam Chalmers Berlin: @bcastanho.bsky.social Details on our project: una-europa.imgix.net/documents/DE...

Delighted that our project “Democracy and AI” has been selected for Una Europa Seed Funding. Our project establishes a network of 25 researchers from six Una Europa institutions: University of Zurich, KU Leuven, University of Edinburgh, FU Berlin, Leiden, UCD. ➡️ www.una-europa.eu/stories/10-n...

10 new projects receive Una Europa Seed Funding to shape Europe’s future | Una Europa

Eleven European research universities have come together to create a unique alliance – Una Europa. Our universities have been educating Europe for almost 1,000 years. Together, we teach more than 400,...

una-europa.eu

Interesting unpacking of deepfakes: - darkfakes - glowfakes - foefakes - fanfakes “A blanket approach to “fighting deepfakes” risks treating satirical content the same as malicious attacks” @morganwack.bsky.social & co in @techpolicypress.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/scrutinizing...

🚨 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

What about debriefings in Misinformation Research? ✅ Only specific debriefings reduce belief in false info ⚠️ Both slightly reduce belief in true info 🧠 Only specific boosts perceived learning 🟢 Only general reduces manipulation & frustration 🔍 Both increase transparency osf.io/preprints/ps...

On this hot, sunny day in Madrid 🌞 during EPSA - happy to see this out in Nature Human Behavior 🚀 We show that, with the right incentives, social media cán do good!

Sacha Altay@sachaltay.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 Now out in Nature Human Behaviour 🚨 We show that following the news on WhatsApp or Instagram (N = 3,395 🇫🇷🇩🇪) increases current affairs knowledge, participants’ ability to discern true from false news stories, awareness of true news stories, as well as trust in the news. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Just published in @pnas.org @emmahoes.bsky.social and I find that people are far more concerned about AI’s immediate harms than about speculative existential risks. Doomsday talk raises concern about catastrophic outcomes but doesn’t reduce worry about today’s risks www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🚨New paper out in @pnas.org with @fgilardi.bsky.social ! Existential AI risks do **not** distract from immediate harms. In our study (n = 10,800), people consistently prioritize current threats - bias, misinformation, job loss - over sci-fi doom! 💥👉 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Reminder to apply for the EUI Alumni Conference (also open to EUI PhDs and fellows)! Deadline is this Friday, March 14th. Looking forward!

EUI Alumni Association@eui-alumni.bsky.social · last yr.

🎓Delighted to announce that the 2025 annual EUI Alumni Association will take place on 11th of June on "Reimagining the Role of Academia in Challenging Times" - The call for proposals is open to EUI Alumni and the EUI community! @eui-eu.bsky.social

Looking forward to be presenting joint work in progress with @klueserthan.bsky.social and @sachaltay.bsky.social on ‘The Hidden Politics of Social Media’

Álvaro Canalejo-Molero@canalejoalvaro.bsky.social · last yr.

🎉 The lineup for the Spring 2025 Brown Bag Seminar at PolSem – @uniluzern.bsky.social is set! 🗺️This year, we are opening up to external presenters for the first time, and it has been a great success. Excited to host them and looking forward to the discussions ahead! Check the calendar below 👇

A car attack in Munich just days before the election-was it a game-changer? Politico speculated it could boost the AfD, but the results tell a different story. Our research on the Utrecht attack shows why voters often rally around incumbents instead: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Any tips/recommendations are welcome! P.S. Is Qualtrics pricing itself out of the academic market purposefully, you think?

Fabrizio Gilardi@fgilardi.bsky.social · last yr.

Fellow academics: what are your experiences with renewing Qualtrics contracts (institutional or individual)? We’re seeing absolutely outrageous price increases.

Social media fragmentation: do online platforms drown democracy in noise? feat. @hannesbajohr.de & @emmahoes.bsky.social www.swissinfo.ch/eng/democrac...

Social media fragmentation: do online platforms drown democracy in noise?

With artificial intelligence set to potentially flood the internet with content, is it all over for a harmonious digital public sphere?

swissinfo.ch

To my fellow former or current EUI members —> The EUI Alumni Association is now also on BlueSky 👋 @eui-alumni.bsky.social Make sure to follow and apply for the Alumni Conference on the Role of Academia in Challenging times on June 11th in beautiful Florence 🌞

🎓Delighted to announce that the 2025 annual EUI Alumni Association will take place on 11th of June on "Reimagining the Role of Academia in Challenging Times" - The call for proposals is open to EUI Alumni and the EUI community! @eui-eu.bsky.social

“[…] the tech panic isn’t based on evidence. It’s based on vibes.” Refreshing read, this piece in the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

All in the mind? The surprising truth about brain rot

Is screen use really sapping our ability to focus and lowering our IQs? The scientists who have actually analysed the data give their verdict

theguardian.com

Exciting news ✨ The new Vienna Doctoral College for Digital Humanism has 5 open PhD positions, one of them based in our very own POLCOM group. Thinking of applying, or know someone who might be interested? All info can be found 🔗 t.ly/836lz

Sophie Lecheler@solecheler.bsky.social · 2y ago

⭐ CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: 5 open PhD Positions at the newly founded Vienna Doctoral College for Digital Humanism, funded by the WWTF, @univie.ac.at , Technische Universität Wien and WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business). All information here: t.ly/836lz

🚨 New publication alert in PSRM! 🚨 Our latest paper examines gender bias in media coverage of elections and the factors influencing it. Read more: doi.org/10.1017/psrm... With @fgilardi.bsky.social y.social & @gessler.bsky.social

Regarding monetization, this article may be relevant:

Tokenization of social media engagements increases the sharing of false (and other) news but penalization moderates it - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Tokenization of social media engagements increases the sharing of false (and other) news but penalization moderates it

nature.com

Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 2y ago

Bluesky will be launching a subscription service by the end of the year. There are no details yet on how many tiers. Premium tiers will likely include higher-resolution pics, more/longer video uploads, and profile/page customization aesthetics. Longer term, there's a monetization plan for creators.

A mapping of how Bluesky is becoming the new Scientific Twitter mikeyoungacademy.dk/bluesky-is-e...

Bluesky is emerging as the new platform for science - Mike Young Academy

Scientific Twitter is about to find its true successor. And it is not X. This, our latest release, shows that the Bluesky network of scientists is growing — and growing.

mikeyoungacademy.dk

Bluesky now has over 20M people!! 🎉 We've been adding over a million users per day for the last few days. To celebrate, here are 20 fun facts about Bluesky:

Disclosure of AI-Generated News Increases Engagement but Does Not Reduce Aversion, Despite Positive Quality Ratings New version, with @emmahoes.bsky.social et al. arxiv.org/abs/2409.035...