Esmeralda Bon

Esmeralda Bon is a Research Associate at the University of Manchester's Cathie Marsh Institute. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham (2021), an M.Sc. in Communication Science from University of Amsterdam (distinction), and an M.A. in Rhetoric, Argumentation Theory and Philosophy. Her research focuses on political communication during referendum campaigns, digital campaigning ethics, and data-driven election strategies in comparative contexts.

Research interests center on:

• Microtargeting and voter privacy concerns
• Comparative analysis of data-driven campaigns
• Digital-era political communication evolution
• EU referendum dynamics and political discourse
• Citizen awareness of campaign technologies

Her publications analyze trends in digital campaigning regulation, political influencer impacts, public attitudes toward microtargeting, and methodological innovations in cross-national survey research. Recent work demonstrates increasing emphasis on regulatory frameworks for data-driven campaigning and comparative analyses of voter perceptions across 25+ countries.

Awards include:

• Postgraduate Teaching Award (University of Nottingham, 2020)
• ESRC Collaborative CASE studentship (2016-2019)
• Michael Cowan Scholarship (2018)
• Data Impact Fellowship (2017-2019)

She contributes to the 'Digital Campaigning and Electoral Democracy' (DiCED) project, examining digital strategies across seven national elections. Teaching experience includes comparative politics, research methods, and voting behavior at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.