theresa gessler

Some professional news as I took my oath of office today: On September 1st, I joined the University of Hamburg as a full professor of democratic political decision making👋 I'm very excited about this job & the chance to continue researching democracy, party competition and digitalization here 1/2

📣 Reminder: Open-panel paper proposals for @dvpwkongress.bsky.social #dvpw2027 in Leipzig, are due Oct 31, 2026. SekMethoden organizes three panels; four more are affiliated with the section ⬇️ ▶️ Submit your proposals: meine.dvpw.de/einreichungen/ @gessler.bsky.social @lukrudolph.bsky.social

📢 One week left to submit papers for our panel on Text as Data in in the Age of Generative AI! 📆

Veranstaltungstipp: Morgen findet die Antrittsvorlesung von @gessler.bsky.social (Professur für Politikwissenschaft, insbesondere demokratisches politisches Entscheiden) statt. 🕐17:00–19:00 Uhr📍Hörsaal VMP9. Kommt gerne vorbei! Weitere Informationen 👉 www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/ka...

Our panel (w/ @gessler.bsky.social) “Text as Data in the Age of Generative AI” asks: How do LLMs compare to dictionaries, supervised classifiers & topic models? Which new research designs become possible, and what do we lose in reproducibility and transparency?

Welt im Umbruch. Politikwissenschaft auch? 🌍 Text-as-data approaches definitely are: LLMs now code, classify and summarize political texts at a scale unimaginable a decade ago, albeit often without the validation standards we built over 25 years. #dvpw2027 @dvpw.bsky.social

For my new research unit Politics of Democracy at the Berlin Social Science Center @wzb.bsky.social, we have 3 open research positions. 2 postdocs: 4 + 2 years (100%) 1 doc: 2 years (75%) Starting date: 1 March 2027 (negotiable) Application deadline: 1 November

Postdoc position within my group 3 years (100% TVl-13): stellen.uni-muenster.de/jobposting/2... ⏱️ 06.11.2026 If you have questions: get in touch!

🚨🚨 New publication: 🚨🚨 Does affective polarization (AP) change citizens’ willingness to support democratic norms or participate? 🧵1/10 Full paper here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Election in occupied areas by Russia - voting under military supervision.

On the train to Kraków for #ecprgc26 and #ecprms 🚂 After a longer conference break, I'm excited to see many colleagues again this week. 👋

I asked a (brilliant female) colleague about the apparent gender gap in AI uptake in our field and she suggested that it was driven by women being more likely to be judged as incompetent if they use AI. This resume study suggests, sadly, that she may be correct codeforgoodnow.com/wp-content/u...

📢 Open call for two additional contributions to our Special Issue "Methodological Advances for the Study of German Politics" @pvs-journal.bsky.social. 📄 Submit by July 12: www.sosci.uni-hamburg.de/pvs/ ℹ️ www.dvpw.de/gliederung/s... @gessler.bsky.social @lukrudolph.bsky.social @dvpw.bsky.social

We are looking for a colleague to fill a part-time (50%) teaching position in IR. Ability to teach in German is required, though courses may also be offered in English. Deadline: 3 July Ad (in German): tinyurl.com/ysnjcwwn Please share - and PM in case of questions @politikuhh.bsky.social

Der DVPW-Vorstand hat soeben eine Stellungnahme zum aktuellen #Referentenentwurf des #BMFTR zur Reform des #WissZeitVG im Rahmen der Verbändebeteiligung abgegeben. 👉 www.dvpw.de/informatione... #IchBinHanna & #IchBinReyhan warten auch nach fünf Jahren noch auf eine umfassende Reform!

New paper out in the @thejop.bsky.social (w/ @christinagahn.bsky.social) Do opinion polls shape election results? Using both cross-national data and a survey experiment, the answer we find is yes - though it depends on how we communicate polling results. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

There was a Fidesz ideologue who once said, "What you call corruption is the essence of the system." Seems he was right but we're just learning by how much. The Integrity Authority estimates Orban's rule cost Hungary €160B(!) in corruption. That equals ~2/3 of 🇭🇺 GDP. www.ft.com/content/0c44...

🚨🚨 Job: Please share 🙌 - what? PhD position in my DFG-funded project on how citizens understand their role in democracy. - when? Application deadline Jul 1, job start Sept 1 or soon thereafter - how? www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

Very excited to welcome @versteegenluca.bsky.social as a colleague at @politikuhh.bsky.social soon!

Today in four weeks, Switzerland will vote on a far-right SVP initiative that demands a cap on the Swiss population of 10 million. What is often misunderstood is that the initiative does not necessarily demand an end to immigration, but — even worse — the complete disenfranchisement of immigrants.

Excited to contribute to the teaching at @ecpr.bsky.social this year, with a short course on Causal Inference for Observational Data ✨ Do you hesitate to reach out if you may be interested, have questions, or want to chat about research in this space

💥Hungary's newly elected PM Péter Magyar, in his first speech, apologizes to victims of the Orbán government's smear campaigns and harassment, including NGOs and journalists. For 16 years, dozens if not hundreds of us had to endure our newsrooms being taken over, surveillance and pressure campaigns.

📢 We're hiring for my project RESPOL on residential mobility & electoral realignment 📍 University of Hamburg 📅 4y, 75% FTE 🔍 pol behavior, comp politics, regional inequalities 📊 quant, administrative & survey data Please share with talented MA students! 🔗 www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

Congratulations to the brilliant @martav.bsky.social for a stellar PhD & defense! 🎉 Serving on PhD committees and getting to read all this new & exciting work is one of the best parts of our job. 🙃

For years, but especially in the last few months, I have been trying hard to imagine what it will feel like seeing Orban decisively defeated. I just couldn't. And yet here we are: it is truly and well over. I have more reservations about Peter Magyar than I could say in 300 characters or a thread...

Keeping this for the future: Orbán on TV saying that the election results are painful but clear. This feels momentous. #Hungary

Péter Magyar FB: “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán just called to congratulate us on our victory.” IT'S DONE. IT'S DONE.

Voting in Hungary is underway. Opposition leader Péter Magyar, leading in polls, has cast his vote. Turnout at 7am is 3.46%—a record, twice as high as 4 years ago. Early data shows opposition areas overperforming, while Fidesz strongholds are lagging. Follow me for updates on the #HungaryElection

Karin Prien setzt bei Demokratiearbeit Kettensäge an: Durch den geplanten Umbau der Förderung "Demokratie leben!", droht bundesweit ein Kahlschlag bei Prävention, Beratung und zivilgesellschaftlichen Strukturen – genau dort, wo sie am dringendsten gebraucht werden. 1/x

🎉 We are excited to welcome Andrea De Angelis and @gessler.bsky.social as Methods School Directors for our Methods School #ecprms, overseeing all academic matters for the event They bring internationally recognised experience in researching, teaching and training in #qual & #quant research methods

Two new articles in Party Politics With @gessler.bsky.social Measuring party positions and issue salience with mass media and manifesto data" doi.org/10.1177/1354... With Hanspeter Kriesi "Restructuring party systems in Northwestern Europe" doi.org/10.1177/1354... Feedback very welcome!

We're excited about the next edition of our Summer School for Women* in Political Methodology, this time organized by the 💫 local team in Mannheim!

Last day 📢📢📢

One week left to apply - join us in Hamburg @politikuhh.bsky.social for the next years 👋

We're looking for a colleague (postdoc) 📢 @politikuhh.bsky.social 3+3 years Doing your own research while teaching 2.5 courses per semester Research agenda with links to our team (democracy, digital politics, political competition/behaviour) DL 🗓️ 05/01 stellen.uni-hamburg.de/jobposting/6...

We're looking for a colleague (postdoc) 📢 @politikuhh.bsky.social 3+3 years Doing your own research while teaching 2.5 courses per semester Research agenda with links to our team (democracy, digital politics, political competition/behaviour) DL 🗓️ 05/01 stellen.uni-hamburg.de/jobposting/6...

⏰ One week left to apply for SekMethoden 2026 — the annual meeting of the DVPW Section "Methods of Political Science". Submit your abstract by Sunday! ⬇️ See below for the CfP and link to the application portal. @gessler.bsky.social @lukrudolph.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @dvpw.bsky.social

@sonjapriebus.bsky.social Aleksandra Maatsch& me are organizing a workshop on 'Opposing challenges to democracy across contexts' in Frankfurt (Oder) 26-27 March 2026. Do you have a paper that might fit? ➡️Call for Papers (📆Deadline: 05/12) www.dvpw.de/informatione...

🤔 Illiberal policy frames? Turns out it’s fear-mongering, not crisis-driven 👥 @miklossebok.bsky.social, @buzogany.bsky.social, @juliafleischer.bsky.social, @gessler.bsky.social, Anna Takács, @seanmtheriault.bsky.social & Ákos Holányi 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Just published in @bjpols.bsky.social: @sergipardos.bsky.social and I show that inter-regional moves in pursuit of employment security reduce individual worries about immigration—a mobility pattern that, in the aggregate, reinforces spatial polarization in anti-immigration sentiment. cup.org/3XiB6yD

‼️Last chance to submit your paper or panel proposal to EPSS 2026 conference in Belfast is TODAY! Don’t miss out - it will be full of great political science and fun social events! 👩‍🏫🥳 epssnet.org/belfast-2026...

🚨 CfP: SekMethoden 2026 🗓️ March 12-13, 2026 🗺️ Hannover, Germany ⏰ DL Dec 07, 2025 👉 Apply here: sosci.sowi.uni-mannheim.de/sekmethoden2... 👥 @gessler.bsky.social, @lukrudolph.bsky.social, @donyhu.bsky.social, Jona Baumert, Morten Harmening and I look forward to your submissions!

Am kommenden Dienstag gebe ich im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung zur Klimakrise an der @uni-hamburg.de einen Vortrag zu den physikalischen Grundlagen der Klimakrise. Der Vortrag ist öffentlich, also gerne vorbeikommen! Freue mich auf den Austausch! #climatecomms www.zfw.uni-hamburg.de/oeffentliche...