Prof. Carolina Plescia (Principal Investigator)
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Phone: +43-1-4277-49904
Carolina Plescia is Associate Professor (tenure track) at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna. Beforehand, Carolina was Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the University of Bologna and FWF Hertha Firnberg scholar at the University of Vienna on a project on the consequences of coalition government compromise on public opinion. She completed her PhD at Trinity College Dublin in November 2013 with a dissertation on electoral behaviour in mixed electoral systems, under the supervision of Professors Michael Marsh and Kenneth Benoit. Her Ph.D. dissertation has been awarded the ECPR Jean Blondel PhD Prize for the best thesis in Politics in 2014.
Besides leading the DeVOTE project, she is involved together with Prof. Sylvia Kritzinger in the H2020 project RECONNECT. The project studies citizen perceptions of democracy and the rule of law in the EU and possible scenarios of reform.
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María Belén Abdala, MA (PhD Student)
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Phone: +43-1-4277-49753
María Belén Abdala holds a PhD/Prae-Doc position within the ERC Project DeVOTE at the Department of Government of the University of Vienna. Previously, she worked as Coordinator of the Political Institutions Program at the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC) in Argentina, where she led applied research projects related to electoral reform, electoral administration and representation. Belén has also served as a consultant for national and sub-national governments, evaluating the implementation of public policies.
Graduate in Political Science from Universidad de San Andrés and Master in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, her main research areas include electoral rules, voting behaviour, party competition and the link between technology, institutions and politics.
Anna Lia Brunetti, MA (PhD Student)
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Phone: +43-1-4277-49757
Anna Lia Brunetti holds a Prae-Doc position within the DeVOTE Project, and combines her PhD studies with being an active member of the research team. Previously, she worked as study assistant at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna where she got the chance to work on different research projects, mainly pertaining to public opinion research.
She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Political science and her Master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Padua and at the University of Vienna, respectively, focusing on voting behaviour, political psychology, party competition and comparative policy analysis.
Zita Zeberer, MSc (Research Administrator)
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Phone: +43-1-4277-49709
Zita Zeberer is responsible for the daily operational, administrative and financial tasks as well as the internal & external communication and dissemination activities in the DeVOTE project. She assists the team with the preparation of project reporting and deliverables.
She has been working on international projects in the field of environmental sustainability and had the opportunity to work for various institutions (non-profit associations and a research institution) both in administrative roles and in research, before joining the University of Vienna. She holds a BSc degree in International Business Administration and a MSc degree in Sustainable Development.
Clara Faulí Molas, PhD (Post-Doctoral Researcher)
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Clara Faulí Molas holds a postdoctoral position within the ERC Project DeVOTE at the Department of Government of the University of Vienna. She completed her PhD at Trinity College Dublin with a dissertation on the role of environmental issues in European elections. Her main research interests include electoral behaviour, EU politics, environmental issues, and text analysis.
Previously, she worked as a researcher in a consulting firm where she participated in several projects, including a study on the benefits and drawbacks of remote voting conducted for the European Commission. She also completed traineeships at the European Commission and Diputació de Barcelona. Clara holds a BA in Political and Administration Sciences from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a MSc in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Kent.
Former project members
Cal Le Gall, PhD (Post-Doctoral Researcher)
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Phone: +43-1-4277-49754
Cal Le Gall was a postdoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE project from April 2021 until March 2023. He was mainly responsible for the collection and analysis of data for Work Package 1. Previously he was a postdoctoral researcher in the framework of the ERC Qualidem project (UCLouvain), as well as in the GLOBPOL project funded by the F.R.S.-FNRS (UCLouvain), which investigated the meanings of globalization for lay citizens and their effects on political behaviour. Currently, Cal Le Gall is a postdoctoral researcher in Comparative Politics at the University of Salzburg.
He completed his PhD at the University of Salzburg and Sciences Po Grenoble in 2018 with a dissertation on the effects of international economic integration on voting behaviour. His work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties and French Politics.
Ming Boyer, PhD (Post-Doctoral Researcher)
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Phone: +43-1-4277-49758
Ming Boyer was a postdoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE project from October 2021 until October 2023, with a primary focus on the quantitative study of the meanings of voting for Work Packages 2-4. He was previously employed as the communications officer of the NORFACE Programme "Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age" and as a University Assistant (PhD candidate) at the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna. Ming Boyer is currently associated with the Department of Communication Science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Ming completed his PhD with honours at the University of Vienna in 2021, for which he studied the psychological processing of news regarding identity politics. Before that, he completed the Research Master Communication Science (cum laude) and the Bachelor Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam. His work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Political Communication, The International Journal of Press/Politics, and Political Studies.
