PROGRAM

Conference Schedule

May 28-30, 2026 | Hertie School, Berlin

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Thursday, May 28

12:00 – 3:00 PM
Registration Open
3:00 – 3:15 PM
Opening Remarks
Asya Magazinnik (Organizer of VIM 2026) and Emily Ritter (VIM President)
3:30 – 5:00 PM
Research Session 1
Panel A: Social Media
Isolde Hegemann
London School of Economics
Trumped by AI: Effects of Fact-Checking Interventions on Online Engagement with Political Misinformation among Republicans
Erin York
Vanderbilt University
Unexpected Voices: How Cultural Agents Reshape Political Communication
Laura Bronner
ETH Zürich
Automated Pre-Moderation Reduces Toxicity Without Hurting Engagement: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Newspaper Comment Sections
Discussant: Simon Munzert (Hertie School)
Panel B: Geospatial Analysis & Local Politics
Charlotte Kuberka
London School of Economics and Political Science
Opposition to Climate Policy or Opposition to the Cities: What Determines Rural Climate Policy Preferences?
Stephanie Zonszein
UC Berkeley
Niches and Vacuums: Field Experiments on Community Media and Latino Political Engagement
Asli Ceren Cinar
Trinity College Dublin
Identity Claims in Political Speech
Discussant: Elisa Wirsching (London School of Economics and Political Science)
5:15 – 6:15 PM
Keynote
Adeline Lo
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Friday, May 29

8:00 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 AM
Research Session 2
Panel A: Experimental Design
Burcu Kolcak
Princeton University
An Iterative Conjoint Framework for Studying Political Judgment: Tracing Identity-Based Anchoring in Candidate Evaluation Over Time
Alessandra Stampi-Bombelli
University of Zurich
Targeted Outreach and Citizenship Take-Up: Experimental Evidence from a Two-Phase Field Experiment in Switzerland
Molly Offer-Westort
University of Chicago
Data-Driven Hypotheses and Experimental Designs for Theory Testing and Theory Building
Discussant: Drew Dimmery (Hertie School)
10:45 AM – 12:15 PM
Research Session 3
Panel A: Causal Inference
Joohye Jeong
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Experimental Stimuli Augmentation via LLMs: Addressing Internal and External Validity
Ekin Dursun
Yale University
Instrumental Variables for Emotion Experiments: A Design Framework and Empirical Test
Myla Burton
University of Illinois
Null Worlds: Rethinking Reference Distributions
Shiyao Liu
Peking University
Imputing Missing Data: When and Why from an Over-Control Perspective
Discussant: Macartan Humphreys (WZB)
Panel B: Applied Survey Research
Linette Lim
University College Dublin
How Does Propaganda Framing Shape Behavioural Intentions Towards International Journalists? Evidence from China
Amanda Weiss
Cornell University
Welcome to the Dark Side: Quantifying the Consequences of Negative Content and Sensitive Topics on Surveys
Jennifer Oser
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Meaningful Latent Class Analysis: Essential Statistical Frameworks and Best Practices for the Applied Researcher
Discussant: Oliver Lang (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Lunch and Poster Session
2:30 – 4:00 PM
Research Session 4
Panel A: Machine Learning for Conflict Research
Melanie Sauter
University of Mannheim
Protecting Civilians in Inter-Communal Conflict Through Remote Sensing of Climate Impacts
Zoe Sigman
Hertie School
Measuring the Hidden Population of Migrant Deaths on the United States-Mexico Border: A Multiple Systems Estimation Approach
Sara Kallis
University of Zurich
Measuring What We Don't Know: Uncertainty Quantification for Human Rights Text Data
Discussant: Julian Wucherpfennig (Hertie School)
Panel B: Network Analysis
Yinxuan Wang
New York University
Measuring Elite Networks from Biographical Texts: A Two-Layer Latent Space Model
Julia Leschke
University College London
Spatial Exposure to Out-Groups Revisited: How Context and Measurement of Exposure to Refugees can Explain Radical Right Voting
Jenn Larson
Vanderbilt University
Respondents Don't Lead i.i.d. Lives
Discussant: Lena Mangold (Center for Critical Computational Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt)
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Coffee Break
5:00 – 6:00 PM
Keynote
Tara Slough
New York University
7:30 – 10:00 PM
Dinner
3 Schwestern — Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin

Saturday, May 30

8:00 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 AM
Research Session 5
Panel A: Large Language Models
Nikolina Filiposki
Technical University of Munich
PolicyLink: Deriving Content Moderation Decisions with Large Language Models
Christine Sheldon
University of Birmingham
Generative Agent-Based Modelling for Institutional Deliberation: Design Principles from a European Council Simulation
Semra Sevi
University of Toronto
AI Weakens, But Does Not Strengthen, Political Attitudes
Discussant: TBD
Panel B: Formal Theory + Legislative Politics
Yu Mei
University of Oslo
The Strategic Value of Public Intelligence
Alice Brocheux
University of Rochester
Strategic Behavior and the Limits of Algorithmic Gerrymandering Detection
Milena Ang
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Corrupt Leaders, Undisciplined Parties? How Scandals Foster Partisan Unruliness
Discussant: Korhan Kocak (IE)
10:45 – 11:45 AM
Professionalization Panels
12:00 – 1:00 PM
Lunch & Discussion about the Future of VIM
1:00 – 1:15 PM
Presentation of Poster Prize and Closing Remarks

Poster Presentations

Presented during Friday lunch (12:30 – 2:30 PM)
Name Affiliation Poster
Karina Junqueira de Almeida Puc-Rio Beyond Technical Neutrality: Mapping Economic and Social Influences in Quality Infrastructure
Susan Smelcer Wake Forest University When Agents Escape: Simulating the Inversion of Legislative Control over the Judiciary
Maelle Delouis-Jost University of Zurich, Department of Sociology The Army of Unity: Conscription and the Making of Belonging in Reunified Germany
Iasmin Goes Central European University You Should (Probably) Not Split Your Sample
Hamna Shakeel IBA, Karachi Justice in the Age of Social Media: A Study of Digital Activism on Twitter and Facebook
Hannah Rajski Mannheim Centre for European Social Research The Link Between Poll Recall and Citizens' Expectations About Election Outcomes: An Analysis of the 2025 German Federal Election
Humeyra Biricik University of Oxford Executive Speeches as an Early-Warning Indicator of Democratic Backsliding
Mara Weber LSE Elite Rhetoric and Persistent Stigmatization
Mariana V. Ramirez Bustamante Charles University Supporting Out of Fear?: Lessons from a Failed Experiment on Electoral Support for Narco-linked Candidates in Peru
Menglin (Miley) Liu The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen An Open-Ended Pandemic? Political and Behavioral Divisions During the Pandemic
Meret Stephan European University Institute The Effect of Pro-Migration Protests on Voting Behavior and Political Attitudes
Nikolina Klatt SCRIPTS Freie Universität Berlin Who Governs Matters: Anti-Pluralism, Regime Change, and Abortion Law
Nora Chirikure WZB (Berlin Social Science Center) Strengthening Inclusive Local Governance and Vertical Social Cohesion in Lebanon
Rebecca Kittel Free University of Berlin and WZB Only Hot Air? National Parliamentary Discourse and Its Effect on Public Opinion on the European Union
Johanna Reyes Ortega UC Berkeley Between Elite Strategy and Mass Mobilization: Women's Political Empowerment in Anti-Colonial Social Revolutions
Sara Merner J-PAL Europe Empowering Women and Girls Against Technologically-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) in Myanmar
Sina Smid Bocconi University The Role of Gender in Attitudes Toward Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Germany
Tatiana Paula da Cruz UW-Madison Is It All About Corruption? Unbundling Anti-Elite and Anti-Corruption Appeals in Populist Rhetoric
Carla Vitoria Oliveira Barbosa University of São Paulo Brazilian Women Human Rights Defenders at the Forefront of Environmental Protection
Maud Bachelet University of Geneva How Can We Explain Responsibility-Sharing Contributions in European Migration Governance