Raluca Toma

Raluca Toma is a Researcher at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. A Romanian national, she joined the EUI in 2024 as part of her doctoral cohort. Her work focuses on democratic processes, media systems, and political communication within the European context.

Dr. Toma's research interests center on media pluralism monitoring, democratic resilience, political communication strategies, and inclusive policy frameworks. Her doctoral research, supervised by Elias Dinas, examines how political elites can foster support for pro-democratic policies through strategic communication and institutional design. She has developed specialized expertise in monitoring frameworks for assessing media diversity and independence across European countries, with particular focus on Romania's media landscape.

Her publication record demonstrates a consistent longitudinal study of media pluralism from 2018 through 2025, tracking how digital transformation affects media independence, ownership structures, and political influence across European Union member states and candidate countries. Her work provides critical assessments of media policy implementation and identifies persistent challenges to maintaining diverse and independent media ecosystems in the face of digital disruption and political pressures.