news

More and more often Utrecht researchers experiment with citizen science, research that involves collaboration with citizens. For instance, by having them collect data. PhD candidate Fleur Froeling went one step further: she asked Dutch people which subject they would like to research scientifically, and involved a group of citizens in every step of the process.

An anti-gay protest by Muslims elicits more sympathy for the LGBTQ+ community than when it is organized by natives. This is especially true if the observer already held a negative view of ethnic minorities, according to an experimental study conducted by political scientists Alberto López Ortega and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte (University of Southampton) among over 2,300 British and Spanish citizens.

An international research group with ETH professor Dominik Hangartner has found that solidarity with refugees in Europe has remained stable, despite repeated refugee crises. While there is a tendency to view refugees from Ukraine more positively, this does not come at the expense of other groups. Russia's attack on Ukraine has resulted in one of the largest movements of refugees since the Second World War.

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) is participating in a European research project, called SOLARIS, to analyse the political risks associated with multimedia content created using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The objective is to propose regulatory innovations in this regard from the field of Law in order to fight against fake news and disinformation created with this technology.

A clear majority of East Germans can identify with democracy as an idea, but less than half are satisfied with their everyday experience of democracy. This was the result of a representative survey of 3,546 people from the eastern German states conducted by the Else-Frenkel-Brunswik Institute of the University of Leipzig, the results of which were presented today (June 28) at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin by the study's directors Oliver Decker and Elmar Brähler.

In politics, tailored ads make sense, but with real limits to the tailoring. Recent U.S. elections have raised the question of whether "microtargeting," the use of extensive online data to tailor persuasive messages to voters, has altered the playing field of politics. Now, a newly-published study led by MIT scholars finds that while targeting is effective in some political contexts, the "micro" part of things may not be the game-changing tool some have assumed.

Researchers used Linkedin data to track where professionals want to move within the EU For professionals looking for a new job, Eastern European countries have not been very attractive so far. That's the finding of a study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, together with a Dutch colleague.

Study: False assumptions about election malfeasance could create a "death spiral" for democracy - but also provide some hope for bipartisan repair. In October 2020, two rival candidates for office in Utah made an unusual television ad together. Incumbent Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and his Democratic challenger, Chris Peterson, appeared in the same spot to note they were both "dedicated to the American values of liberty, democracy, and justice for all people," as Cox said, and that "our common values transcend our political differences," as Peterson put it.

Strategic decisions and debates about Australian values are shaped in the Anglosphere, a new research paper reveals. A Monash University paper published in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations identifies how major strategic decisions and debates about national values have been shaped by Australia's role in the 'Anglosphere'.

Psychologists surveyed over 4,000 people to test social ability to analyse what factors determine how well you understand and get on with others. Political parties regularly claim to have their finger on the pulse and be able to read the public mood. Yet a new study challenges the idea that being political makes you good at understanding others: it shows gender, not politics, is a far more important factor in determining people's social skills.

Health + Behavior Social environment through early adulthood plays a big role in how people learn to evaluate information and make decisions about what is true Researchers studied the way different generations in Romania determined the truth of information following the country's transition from authoritarianism to democracy.

New research led by experts from The University of Manchester , the University of St Andrews, the University of Essex and the University of Nottingham suggests that people from ethnic and religious minority groups are more likely to be interested in politics than White British people. Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) is a major new survey of racism and ethnic inequalities carried out by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE).

Anti-corruption can start with education about stereotypes, an international study shows For transnational bribery, the decision to offer bribes strongly depends on the national background of one's partner. One's own nationality, on the other hand, plays only a secondary role. This is shown by a large-scale experiment conducted by researchers from the University of Cologne, the University of Amsterdam and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.

In Sweden, immigrants are allowed to participate in regional elections even if they don't have a Swedish passport. Researchers at the University of Basel recently investigated whether this affects naturalization numbers. Their findings could also be of interest for Switzerland. In most countries, the right to participate in the democratic process is reserved for citizens, so anyone who wants to be able to vote must first go through the naturalization process.

Public safety alerts have saved countless lives in Ukraine-but lose effectiveness over time, according to new joint study As many as 45% of casualties were prevented in the first few months of the war in Ukraine through heightened public responsiveness and the Ukrainian government's communications strategy, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago and Ipsos.

Closed lists in political elections make people take greater account of ideology and the party brand when voting, while in electoral systems with open lists, people vote in a more personal and less ideological way. This is the main conclusion of a study carried out by researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the University of Houston, in the US, which analyses certain characteristics of democratic elections.

There is reasonably broad support among Dutch voters for a basic income, according to new research by sociologists at Tilburg University. However, this must be subject to conditions. Most proponents favor a "participation income," available to everyone on the condition that a social task is performed, like volunteer work, informal care or an education.

Those educated at private schools are twice as likely to be consistent Conservative voters in adulthood as those who had a state education, according to a new study involving UCL researchers. Published in the journal Sociology , the study uses data from a longitudinal study of almost 7,000 British people born in 1970.

Study shows that migrants don't cause crime rates to increase but false perceptions endure Many people who oppose immigration say that it increases crime. But does immigration really affect crime? Studying a country whose proportion of migrants has tripled in less than ten years, researchers find immigration significantly impacts people's perceptions of crime but has no effect on actual crime.

A study co-led by Asbel Bohigues, a professor at the University of Valencia (UV), explains that holding opinions in favour of equality (opposed to sexist ones), recognising that gender inequality is a