Most research on media and politics focuses on explicitly political content, such as news. Yet this makes up only 3% of what people encounter online. The large majority is everyday content: entertainment, lifestyle sites, and social media influencers. HIDDENPOL asks whether this widely consumed content also shapes citizens' political values, beliefs, and orientations, and what that means for today's democratic challenges.
The project develops new theory on how and when everyday media matter politically. It tests this theory through large-scale content analysis, audience research, and survey and field experiments in the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States.
The results will inform both media-effects research and current policy responses to challenges such as misinformation, polarization, and declining trust.
Developing a new theoretical framework.
Mapping everyday online content across platforms and countries.
Understanding how audiences engage with this content.
Testing effects with survey and field experiments.
Political scientist and experimentalist at the University of Zurich, studying how digital technologies shape the information ecosystem.
A postdoctoral researcher and research assistants will join the team from 2027. See open positions below.
HIDDENPOL is building its team for the project start in January 2027. Calls for the positions below will open soon. If you're interested, feel free to reach out ahead of time.
Part-time positions supporting the project's data collection and content-classification work across the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. A good fit for students interested in political communication, computational methods, and experimental research. Speaking Dutch and/or Spanish is a plus.
A four-year position (80%) on HIDDENPOL, hired through an open call, for a researcher with a background in Computational Social Science. The role offers substantial autonomy to develop an independent research profile while contributing to the project's cross-country experimental and computational work.