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Kristina Aleksandrovna Ped­er­sen

Postdoc

Subjects
Big data Media Social media Democracy Politics Russia

Primary research areas

Autocracies and Information Control

My ongoing research examines the use of information control by autocratic regimes and its implications with a special focus on Russia. I am particularly interested in how dynamics of information control unfold in relation to digital and traditional media platforms.

Political communication and behavior

Investigating online political expression and behavior in both autocratic and democratic settings. Recent projects involve investigating the impact of informative interventions on consumption and interaction with political content on TikTok as well as the impact of repressive legislation in Russia on people’s willingness to engage in political expression on YouTube.

Business Tycoons in office

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow on the Tycoon Candidates project investigating the mechanisms behind wealthy business people being elected to office and the societal and political implications.

Quantitative and digital methods

I primarily work with quantitative and computational methods – exploiting the vast amounts of digitally available data and employing both descriptive and quasi experimental approaches. My research draws heavily on a variety of NLP and LLM approaches as well as quasi-experimental designs to investigate concepts like media bias and online political expression in text data. For the Tycoon Candidates project, I’m also working on developing steps to (fuzzy) match electoral and company ownership data across many country contexts.

Understanding information control and its consequences in an age of uncertainty and democratic backsliding

My research examines how information control, misinformation, and repression reshape political participation in both democratic and autocratic contexts. I study how media systems and digital environments influence what people say, and what they stop saying, when democratic norms erode. 

My work helps understand and counter threats to democratic resilience in the context of information control by state actors.  I use big data and digital methods to study these dynamics at scale in both descriptive and causal frameworks.  

In addition to my postdoc position at CBS I am a Postdoctoral Research Affiliate at the Center of Social Media and Politics (CSMaP), NYU, where I am currently working on a project investigating how “foreign agent” targeting by the Russian regime impacts online political expression. 

I value the importance of communicating complex research findings and providing context for the broader population through teaching, public lecturing and media dissemintaion. 

Outside activities

I have no outside employments or activities