Elisabeth Schimpfössl

Elisabeth Schimpfössl is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Sociology and Policy at Aston University, Birmingham, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science. She specializes in Media Sociology, Wealth & Power dynamics, and Eastern European Studies, with a focus on self-censorship in journalism and the intersection of wealth and political influence in Russia and the UK.

• Education: Doctorate in Sociology from the University of Manchester
• Previous Experience: Development cooperation under the Austrian Foreign Ministry

Her research includes the acclaimed book Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie (Oxford University Press, 2018), which won the 2019 Women’s Forum Book Prize. Her recent work examines media practices in Eastern Europe and has been published in Journalism and the European Journal of Communication.

Her expertise spans critical analyses of power structures, post-Soviet sociopolitical transitions, and media governance in transitional democracies.