Team
Head of Chair
Professor Florian Toepfl
Professor Florian Toepfl holds the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region. He is Principal Investigator of the RUSINFORM project and headed the Emmy Noether Research Group.
Office Manager
Katrin Arkona
Katrin Arkona is office manager at the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region. She is responsible for administrative and organisational tasks.
Affiliated Research Associate & Adjunct Professor
Professor Birgit Beumers
Professor Birgit Beumers is affiliated with the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet region and teaches by lectureship in the field of film studies as well as in the field of culture and literature of Eastern Europe.
Research Associates & PhD students
Daria Kravets
Daria Kravets is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project. Her research interests are in the areas of political communication, as well as algorithmic bias and computational methods.
Anna Ryzhova
Anna Ryzhova is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project. Political communication is her main research interest. She also takes interest in audience research as well as news critical literacy and trust in media.
Arista Beseler
Arista Beseler is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project. Digital communcation is her main research interest, with a focus on alternative media in Germany and audience participation.
Julia Kling
Julia Kling is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project. Her research interests are in the areas of Russia’s Informational influence, as well as transnational audience research and computational methods.
Serge Poliakoff
Serge Poliakoff is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project. His research interests are in the areas of Russia’s Informational influence, dis-/misinformation, propaganda, fake news and computational methods.
Visiting Fellow
Dr. Olena Melnykova-Kurhanova
Dr. Olena Melnykova-Kurhanova is visiting fellow at the Chair of Political Communication with a focus on Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet region. She conducts research on media literacy and fact-checking, public communication, dissident communication, propaganda, destructive narratives, false news.
Research Assistants
Olha Soroka
Olha Soroka is a Research Assistant at the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region. Her research interests include digital and political communication as well as Russian propaganda.