New People at the Department
Bérénice De Ridder
Bérénice Marie De Ridder joined the Strategic Communication and Media Management division in June 2025 as a student assistant under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nadine Strauß. She is involved in projects focusing on sustainability, the digital environment, and strategic communication.
Bérénice holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology (Policing and Investigations) from Middlesex University and an MSc in Crisis and Security Management from Leiden University. She is currently completing a Master’s in Internet & Society at the University of Zurich. Her research interests focus on the intersections of communication, security, and digital media, particularly on how digitalisation and emerging technologies shape communication practices.
We warmly welcome Bérénice De Ridder as a new member of the IKMZ team!
Shinyi Kang
Shinyi Kang joined the Media Psychology & Methods division in August 2025 as a research and teaching assistant. She holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in interactive media and business from New York University Abu Dhabi. Her background spans conducting AI literacy research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leading a blockchain education initiative in Abu Dhabi. In her dissertation, Shinyi will explore how people practice and express creativity through digital media, and how these experiences are evolving with technological advancements.
We warmly welcome Shinyi Kang as a new member of the IKMZ team!
Julien Labarre
Julien Labarre joined the International and Comparative Media Research division in August 2025 as a senior teaching and research associate. He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and previously held an assistant professorship at California State University, Dominguez Hills. His research focuses on media and the health of U.S. democracy, with particular attention to disinformation, polarization, and populist or extreme attitudes. In his recent work, he developed the Epistemic Vulnerability Index as a tool to assess the crisis of information across countries. Beyond his academic research, Julien frequently appears in international media as a guest expert. At IKMZ, he contributes to projects on information integrity and the role of information environments in sustaining liberal democracy.
We warmly welcome Julien Labarre as a new member of the IKMZ team!
Eva-Maria Vogel
Eva-Maria Vogel joined the International & Comparative Media Research division in August 2025 as a doctoral candidate. She is pursuing her PhD within an SNF-funded project led by Prof. Frank Esser, investigating how political social media influencers and other actors use digital media to shape political processes and voter behavior. She studied Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics (B.Sc.) and Psychology (M.Sc.) at the University of Amsterdam. During her Master’s, she visited the University of Essex, where she contributed as a research assistant to a project on attitudes towards science. With her interdisciplinary background, she combines perspectives from psychology and political science to examine the dynamics of political persuasion on digital platforms.
We warmly welcome Eva-Maria Vogel as a new member of the IKMZ team!
Carli Ochs
Carli Ochs joined the department in September 2025 as a senior research and teaching associate in the Media Use and Effects division. She recently returned to Switzerland after two years at Georgetown University (Washington, DC), where she conducted research funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility fellowship. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Fribourg and holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Psychology from the University of Amsterdam.
Her research has focused on how smartphone use affects social interaction, academic performance, and well-being. She has mainly conducted field and lab experiments and often works with mixed-method approaches. At IKMZ, she will build on this expertise to investigate how artificial intelligence relates to loneliness.
We warmly welcome Carli Ochs as a new member of the IKMZ team!
Paloma Gimenez Gil
Paloma Gimenez Gil joined the Strategic Communication & Media Management division in September 2025 as a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship fellow.
Paloma is a journalist and corporate communications specialist with professional experience in media, corporations, and the financial sector. She holds an MA in Public Media from Fordham University (New York) and brings a strong background in international communication.
At UZH/IKMZ, Paloma will conduct her research project, “Framing Corporate Responses: A Case Study of the Acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS in Key Global Financial Hub Media”. The project examines how this landmark banking acquisition was communicated and portrayed across international financial media, offering timely insights into corporate communication in high-stakes contexts.
Paloma will be part of IKMZ from September 1, 2025, until the end of August 2026. She will be supervised by Prof. Nadine Strauß, Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication and Media Management (Tenure Track).
We warmly welcome Paloma Gimenez Gil to IKMZ and look forward to her contributions to our research community!
Lucas Da Silva
Lucas Paulo da Silva joined IKMZ in October 2025. He is employed as a staff member supporting teaching and research during the first months and will then assume the position as postdoctoral researcher in the division of Political Communication.
He will support Dr. Anne Schulz on her SNSF-funded “Amidst Abundant Negativity” project by using computational methods to measure news negativity and its effects on political knowledge and well-being. In addition, Lucas conducts research on online media ideology, public opinion, and media effects.
Lucas recently submitted his PhD dissertation in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin. This dissertation measured the ideologies of news outlets globally and used experiments to test how this news supply influences “cross-pressured voters” (people with inconsistent ideological positions). Previously, he studied data science, an MSc in International Politics, and a BA in history and media.
Lucas recently published a study in Political Behavior. This quasi-experiment tests how media influences ideological positions, perceptions of party positions, and voting based on the longstanding boycott of the right-wing tabloid The Sun in Liverpool.
We warmly welcome Lucas Da Silva as a new member of the IKMZ team!
Izabella Martin-Kovacs
Izabella Martin-Kovacs joined the Internet Use & Society division in October 2025 and supports teaching and research. She will work on a study about older adults' experiences with GenAI.
She recently graduated from her master’s degree programme in Communication Strategies from the University of Padua where her research examined political communication in the attention economy. She previously earned a Liberal Arts and Sciences Honours degree from Amsterdam University College, majoring in Humanities and minoring in International Relations.
Her most recent position was with a medical foundation, where she worked as a Communications Assistant in fundraising and administration. She also gained editorial and production experience as a production assistant at C-SPAN in Washington, D.C.
We warmly welcome Izabella Martin-Kovacs as a new member of the IKMZ team!