If you get asked to review... please respond!!! And if you agree to review, please turn in the review. If it's a little late, that's ok, but let the journal know.

📣 We're hiring a postdoc in political science for our ReJust project @uni-konstanz.de! Project with Dirk Leuffen @leuffen.bsky.social and Urs Fischbacher 3-year position | Deadline: Dec. 15, 2025 | Start: April 2026 Please share widely 🙏

Thanks to the great help by @rstrauch.bsky.social, Gabriele Spilker and the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" @excinequality.bsky.social, version 5.0 of the "Mass Mobilization in Autocracies Database" (coverage until 2022) is now available at mmadatabase.org!

Auf der Suche nach einer Postdoc-Stelle im Bereich der empirischen Menschenrechtsforschung? An der @fau.de suchen wir eine*n Postdoc für 3+3 Jahre für unser Team. tinyurl.com/4d3w3th6

#OpenAccess from the new issue of @psrm.bsky.social - Intra-ethnic divisions and disagreement over self-determination demands in ethnic movements - https://cup.org/481UkPS - @frederikgremler.bsky.social, Manuel Vogt & @nilsweidmann.bsky.social#OpenAccess

📄 Does the Community Understand the Community Guidelines? with @yannistheocharis.bsky.social , @mianahrgang.bsky.social , @nilsweidmann.bsky.social & Molly Roberts

This is an excellent special issue! Highly recommended.

Thanks for the endorsement, @kailmarkvart.bsky.social! This work was only possible because there's a large coding project with full transparency in its procedures and data, and with unrestricted access. Kudos (again) to the @vdeminstitute.bsky.social for providing this huge public good.

Please share: by Sept 1, we solicit nominations for @isanet.bsky.social Karl Deutsch Award to recognize 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟰𝟱, 𝗼𝗿 ≤𝟭𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 who have made significant contribution to the study of #𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 & #𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 🔗 www.isanet.org/Programs/Awa... #IR

EPSA have announced that they will hold a conference in July 2026. 😵‍💫 We understand that there might be some confusion about EPSS and EPSA. 👉🏽 So we thought we would clarify some things. A short 🧵

Now online ft. @nilsweidmann.bsky.social & coauthors! Large language models can help us assess the state of democracy for comparative research, but they do so with their own attitudes. doi.org/10.1017/S104...

ACLED locking researchers out feels less like data protection, more like damage control. Especially when the numbers already… don’t add up because they're sourced from people doing the fighting. 📉 👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

This article should have been published alongside the one it responds to. The original article finds that the authors' own (commercial) data outperforms the free UCDP data. Conflict of interest? Nah. But at least we know now that this conclusion is based on "a series of unfounded claims." 👇

Very interesting on LLMs and democracy coding: Quite good at «easy» cases, but very problematic for tough ones: «Some LLMs are too pessimistic and others [too optimistic] … it is difficult to replace human coders with LLMs because the extent and direction of these attitudes is not known a priori.»

#OpenAccess from @pspolisci.bsky.social - Large Language Models Are Democracy Coders with Attitudes - cup.org/3H8EebY - @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, Mats Faulborn & @dgarcia.eu #FirstView #LLM

... and here's a short press release about the article: www.uni-konstanz.de/en/universit...

Very happy that the joint paper with Ore Koren on infectious diseases and trust in politics has now been published: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... A nice result of his fellowship at @uni-konstanz.de, funded by the @humboldt-foundation.de!

This fall, we’re launching two new Master’s programs focused on applied methods in the social sciences at Uni Marburg. More info + details 👉

I still don’t understand why we’re not adjusting the semester dates such that the teaching ends before the summer heat kicks in? If the University of Mannheim (and many other institutions worldwide) can do it, we can too. What we’re currently going through is completely avoidable.

Terrific news! Count me in for Belfast 2026.

This is fantastic news, and I'm grateful to the members of the EPSA Reform Working Group for managing this transition. "Reform" would have been the preferred outcome, since this also would have resolved the ownership question of @psrm.bsky.social, but let's take one step at a time. Belfast 2026!!

🔗📃 Link to he paper now published in the ICWSM conference proceedings (ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...) co-authored with @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, @friederikeq.bsky.social, @sebnagel.bsky.social, @yannistheocharis.bsky.social & Molly Roberts

@nilsweidmann.bsky.social and Mina Rulis study the link between university disciplines and political protest in autocracies. They focus on how the composition of academic institutions shapes the likelihood of activism in university cities. Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

📣 Happy to announce the publication of our article (w @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, @friederikeq.bsky.social, @sebnagel.bsky.social, @yannistheocharis.bsky.social & Molly Roberts) on the complexity and availability of community guidelines @icwsm.bsky.social! 🔗 ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...

With Mina Rulis, I've been studying the link between higher education and dissent in autocracies: "Activist disciplines: Universities in autocracies and political protest" has now been published at doi.org/10.1177/2053...! Thanks to the @uni-konstanz.de for supporting open access!

🚨🚀 Looking for a comparative dataset on social media platforms? We’re excited to launch COMPARE! This is a collaborative effort by @nilsweidmann.bsky.social , @friederikeq.bsky.social , @sebnagel.bsky.social , @yannistheocharis.bsky.social & Molly Roberts. 🧵⤵️ (1/5)

Want to guest edit JPR's 2027 Special Issue? Our call for proposals is now open! www.prio.org/journals/jpr...

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/...

Now available on arxiv: "Large Language Models Are Democracy Coders with Attitudes" (with Mats Faulborn and @dgarcia.eu) arxiv.org/abs/2503.22315

We are now receiving applications for one fully funded PhD position in peace and conflict research, with a focus on political violence in democratic countries. Read more 👉 www.uu.se/en/about-uu/... Applications are also open for our general PhD position👉 www.uu.se/en/about-uu/... #PhD #Democracy

Sure you don't want to work with us? We're clearly not an Ivy League institution, but we can offer a great work environment in a beautiful region. Lake and the Alps are included for free. In case it matters, egg prices are stable at around 30 cents apiece. stellen.uni-konstanz.de/jobposting/8...

Want to work with us? stellen.uni-konstanz.de/jobposting/8...

Democracy researchers please take note, and tell relevant colleagues: The Dep. of Pol. Sci. in Gothenburg is hiring a new Director for the V-Dem Institute. The Director will also serve as permanent (tenured) member of the Dep., with reduced teaching responsibilities during their tenure as Director.

Closing in two weeks: 2 open positions in my new consolidator project "Decades of Peace" at the University of Zurich @ipz.bsky.social funded by @snsf-ch.bsky.social, focusing on Latin America. PhD position: ipz.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:e32a... Postdoc position: ipz.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:94e1...

Congrats, @gerlinde.bsky.social!!

📢 We’re hiring! PhD and Postdoc Positions Available! Come join the Chair of Digital Governance at the Technical University of Munich and be part of our Transparency in Content Moderation project, with Molly Roberts & @nilsweidmann.bsky.social! 📅 Deadline: Feb 1. portal.mytum.de/jobs/wissens...

We @unikonstanz.bsky.social are hiring a junior professor in computational social science with a specialization in text-as-data methods and LLMs. Please share and contact me if you are interested! stellen.uni-konstanz.de/jobposting/2...

Nice to see the final final version out. Always great to work on a great team. Don't forget to check out the free demo and API!

Finally out in @polanalysis.bsky.social (w/ @stefan-scholz.bsky.social, @zacharyst.bsky.social, @keremoglu.bsky.social and Bastian Goldlücke): "Improving Computer Vision Interpretability: Transparent Two-Level Classification for Complex Scenes" Available #OpenAccess at doi.org/10.1017/pan....

Want to do causal inference using high-frequency geospatial data with temporal carryover or spatial spillover effects? We've created a new R package, geocausal, that lets you estimate counterfactuals at user-specified intervals for different distributions of a treatment github.com/mmukaigawara...

Can I see the replication code please? www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/gra...

New paper forthcoming in PA, w/ @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, @zacharyst.bsky.social, @keremoglu.bsky.social and Bastian Goldlücke! We propose a method that makes image classification more transparent by identifying which objects on images are related to the outcome. Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2407.03786

New paper with @sachaltay.bsky.social just out in PNAS Nexus, showing that AI labels may not be as meaningful or effective as intended

After 26 days, 2424 kilometers, 16 talks and only two flat tires, #BikeAndTalk2024 from Konstanz to Oslo is over! It was a fantastic trip, and I’m so grateful for meeting so many great colleagues along the way. Hope to do another iteration of this format next year.

Was great to wrap up #BikeAndTalk2024 with such a great audience at @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social! That view towards the fjord and Holmenkollen is spectacular. Many thanks to the CIR group and in particular, @felixhaass.bsky.social for having me.

Had so much fun being back at my old institute (the Peace Research Institute Oslo) as part of #BikeAndTalk2024. Thanks for the opportunity to present, @mariannedahl.bsky.social and @haakongjerlw.bsky.social!

Safely made it to Oslo today! Thanks @sschutte.bsky.social for the warm welcome. While the biking part of #BikeAndTalk2024 is over, there’s some more talking to do: Looking forward to present at the Peace Research Institute Oslo tomorrow and at the @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social on Friday.

Our study on autocrats' control over the Internet infrastructure is featured on Internet Society's Pulse Blog @internetsociety.bsky.social pulse.internetsociety.org/blog/mapping...