Team

	Prof. Carolina Plescia (Principal Investigator) Carolina Plescia is Associate Professor at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna. Beforehand, Carolina was Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the University of Bologna and FWF Hertha Firnberg scholar at the University of Vienna on a project on the consequences of coalition government compromise on public opinion. She completed her PhD at Trinity College Dublin in November 2013 with a dissertation on electoral behaviour in mixed electoral systems, under the supervision of Professors Michael Marsh and Kenneth Benoit. Her Ph.D. dissertation has been awarded the ECPR Jean Blondel PhD Prize for the best thesis in Politics in 2014. Besides leading the DeVOTE project, she was involved together with Prof. Sylvia Kritzinger in the H2020 project RECONNECT.
	Zita Zeberer, MSc (Research Administrator) Zita Zeberer is responsible for the daily operational, administrative and financial tasks as well as the internal and external communication and dissemination activities in the DeVOTE project. She assists the team with the preparation of project reporting and deliverables. She has been working on international projects in the field of environmental sustainability and had the opportunity to work for various institutions (non-profit associations and a research institution) both in administrative roles and in research, before joining the University of Vienna. She holds a BSc degree in International Business Administration and a MSc degree in Sustainable Development.
	Dr. María Belén Abdala, MA BA Belén Abdala was a predoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE Project from April 2021 until May 2025 with a primary focus on the quantitative and qualitative study of the meanings of voting. She completed her PhD at the University of Vienna in 2025. Currently she is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Salzburg, working on the DEUDEM Project, where she investigates citizens' attitudes towards democratic backsliding in EU countries. Previously, Belén served as Coordinator of the Political Institutions Program at the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC) in Argentina. She has also worked as a consultant for national and subnational governments. Belén holds a BA in Political Science from Universidad de San Andrés and an MA in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
	Dr. Ming M. Boyer Ming Boyer was a postdoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE project from October 2021 until October 2023, with a primary focus on the quantitative study of the meanings of voting. He was previously employed as the communications officer of the NORFACE Programme "Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age" and as a University Assistant (PhD candidate) at the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna. He is currently associated with the Department of Communication Science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Ming completed his PhD at the University of Vienna in 2021, for which he studied the psychological processing of news regarding identity politics. Before that, he completed the Research Master Communication Science (cum laude) and the Bachelor Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam.
	Anna Lia Brunetti, MA Anna Lia Brunetti was a predoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE Project from October 2021 until October 2025 with a primary focus on the quantitative study of the meanings of voting. Previously, she worked as study assistant at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna where she got the chance to work on different research projects, mainly pertaining to public opinion research. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Political science and her Master's degree in Political Science at the University of Padua and at the University of Vienna, respectively, focusing on voting behaviour, political psychology, party competition and comparative policy analysis.
	Clara Faulí Molas, PhD Clara Faulí Molas was a postdoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE project from February 2024 until September 2025. Currently she is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Munich. She completed her PhD at Trinity College Dublin with a dissertation on the role of environmental issues in European elections. Her main research interests include electoral behaviour, EU politics, environmental issues, and text analysis. Previously, she worked as a researcher in a consulting firm where she participated in several projects, including a study on the benefits and drawbacks of remote voting conducted for the European Commission. She also completed traineeships at the European Commission and Diputació de Barcelona. Clara holds a BA in Political and Administration Sciences from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a MSc in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Kent.
	Cal Le Gall, PhD Cal Le Gall was a postdoctoral researcher in the DeVOTE project from April 2021 until March 2023. He was mainly responsible for the collection and analysis of the qualitative data. Previously he was a postdoctoral researcher in the framework of the ERC Qualidem project (UCLouvain), as well as in the GLOBPOL project funded by the F.R.S.-FNRS (UCLouvain). Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher in Comparative Politics at the University of Salzburg. He completed his PhD at the University of Salzburg and Sciences Po Grenoble in 2018 with a dissertation on the effects of international economic integration on voting behaviour.

Advisory Board

	Prof. Andrè Blais (University of Montreal, Canada) Andrè Blais is Professor and Research Chair in Electoral Studies at the Department of Political Science at the University of Montreal. His primary research expertise is in the fields of electoral systems, voter behaviour, and political parties. He has extensive experience in survey design and has led several major research grants working with economists, political scientists, and psychologists.
	Prof. Sylvia Kritzinger (University of Vienna, Austria) Sylvia Kritzinger is Professor of Methods in the Social Sciences at the Department of Government of the University of Vienna. She is one of the principal investigators of the Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES) and the Austrian Corona Panel Project (ACPP). She acts as Deputy Director of the Vienna Centre for Electoral Research (VieCER), the research network Interdisciplinary Value Research, and runs the digitalization project Digitize! Computational Social Science in the Digital and Social Transformation. Her research focuses on Political Behaviour and Electoral Research, Democratic Representation and Political Participation, and Survey Research.
	Prof. Sophie Lecheler (University of Vienna, Austria) Sophie Lecheler is Professor of Communication Science at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna. Her primary research expertise is in the fields of political communication, including emotions in journalism and political communication, and digital innovation.
	Prof. Gail McElroy (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) Gail McElroy is Professor in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Her primary research expertise is in the fields of party politics and electoral systems, and she is actively involved in the Irish National Election and the Irish Candidates Study.
	Prof. Markus Wagner (University of Vienna, Austria) Markus Wagner is Professor for Quantitative Party and Election Research at the Department of Government at the University of Vienna. His primary research expertise is in the issues and ideologies in party competition and vote choice. He has extensive experience in survey design and administration. He is part of the Austrian National Election Study and currently a member of the international planning committee of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES).
	Prof. Elizabeth Zechmeister (Vanderbilt University, USA) Elisabeth Zechmeister is Professor of Political Science and director of Latin American Public Opinion Project at Vanderbilt University. Her primary research expertise is in the fields of Latin American politics, Mexican politics, research design, and comparative political behavior and public opinion. Currently she is the chair of the CSES, and she oversees the AmericasBarometer, a comparative public opinion survey that covers nations in North, Central, and South America.
	Prof. Zoe Lefkofridi (University of Salzburg, Austria) Zoe Lefkofridi is Professor of Politics & Gender, Diversity & Equality at Department of Political Science of the University of Salzburg. Her primary research expertise is in the fields of democracy, European integration, inequality in political representation (especially gender and its interplay with other forms of inequality). With her expertise in data archive and data protection, Zoe acts as Ethics Advisor for the DeVOTE project.