Darja Wischerath

digital behaviour, radicalisation, extremism, disinformation

I am a postdoctoral research assistant on the IMITATE3 project, researching resilience and susceptibility to disinformation. 

In my PhD I explored how conspiracy narratives can engage social-psychological factors involved in violence legitimation, focussing particularly on conspiracy narratives spread in online communities. 

Methodologically, I combine computational and qualitative methodologies, utilising computational approaches such as topic modelling, text mining, and network analysis to explore larger trends across the entire dataset. These big-picture findings are then supplemented by additional qualitative analysis, such narrative analysis, abductive analysis, and content analysis. 

Broadly, my research interests include alt-tech online communities, mainstreaming of extreme ideologies, mobilisation of (violent) collective action all situated in a far-right context.