I am an Associate Professor of Political Communication and Journalism at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam. I hold a PhD in political science from the University of Geneva (2010).

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My research focuses on political communication, voting behaviour, political psychology, and campaigning effects. I have recently published works on the personality of politicians, the drivers of negative campaigning and its effects, the psychological and emotional underpinnings of persuasion, populist communication, and comparative electoral behavior.

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I am currently directing a research project that maps the use of negative campaigning in elections across the world, which has already collected data for 190+ elections since June 2016 based on judgments of 2,200+ country experts. Browse the published articles from the project and download the data.

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I am an Associate Editor at the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties and the Journal of Social and Political Psychology.

I am currently working on three books: Dark Politics. The Personality of Politicians and the Future of Democracy (with J. Maier, out in 2023 at Oxford University Press), The Psychology of Negative Electoral Campaigns. Perceptions, Evaluations, and Effects (with L. Otto, out in 2024 at Routledge), and the Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication (with M. Grömping & D. Wirz, out in 2025 at Edward Elgar Publishing).

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You can check out my published books and articles here. Replication data and materials for my recent publications can be found in my Open Science Foundation (OSF) repository.