Sahana Udupa is a Professor of Media Anthropology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), Germany, and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center. She leads the Center for Digital Dignity, an international network addressing online political expression challenges. Her research focuses on extreme speech, disinformation, and platform governance, with notable work including a UN-commissioned paper on countering online hate and an award-winning 2024 article on AI and extreme speech. She holds ERC grants, including a consolidator grant for a cross-national study on small social media platforms (2024–2029). She chairs an LMU Center for Advanced Studies research group on encrypted messaging and extreme speech, co-editing a forthcoming book on WhatsApp (NYU Press). Awards include the Francqui Chair and ICA’s Outstanding Article Award. Affiliations: Harvard Berkman Klein Center, LMU Munich, ERC-funded projects Grants: €2M ERC consolidator grant, multiple international fellowships Her advisory roles include MediaWell (SSRC) and editorial boards of leading journals. Current projects include a symposium on encrypted messaging and a UN policy report on extreme speech.
Ignacio Ojea Quintana serves as Assistant Professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich's Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Studies within the Chair of Philosophy of Science. He joined LMU in 2022 after a three-year research fellowship at the Australian National University's School of Philosophy. His academic foundation includes a PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University (2019), supervised by Philip Kitcher with focus on formal social epistemology, and prior Masters/BA degrees in Philosophical Logic from the University of Buenos Aires where he collaborated with the Buenos Aires Logic Group. Ojea Quintana's research employs formal methodologies to examine digital technologies' impact on knowledge organization across scientific and public spheres. His work intersects Social Epistemology , Philosophy of Data Science , and Autonomous Systems Ethics , with significant contributions to social media network analysis of controversial movements. Current projects analyze Twitter dynamics in racial justice movements, ethical constraints in AI decision systems, and consensus formation in scientific modeling. His 2021-2022 publications reveal an interdisciplinary trajectory bridging philosophy, computer science, and social sciences. Key trends include computational analysis of online discourse, formal modeling of group rationality under uncertainty, and ethical frameworks for AI systems. Works appear in high-impact venues including Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications and the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society. Ojea Quintana maintains active collaborations with the "Humanising Machine Intelligence" initiative (formerly at ANU) and the Buenos Aires Logic Group. His research program demonstrates sustained engagement with technology's societal implications through formal modeling approaches and empirical digital trace analysis.
Professor Beatrice Heuser is a distinguished academic in the Department of Politics within the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Her career spans multiple prestigious institutions across Europe, including King's College London, University of Reading, and visiting professorships at Sciences Po Paris, Bundeswehr University Munich, and MGIMO. She maintains significant affiliations with major strategic research institutes including Chatham House, RUSI, IFRI, and IRSEM. Education: BA from Bedford College London, MA from LSE, DPhil from Oxford (St Antony's/St John's), Habilitation from University of Marburg Professional Experience: Former Director of Studies at German Bundeswehr's military history research office, NATO Headquarters consultant, and extensive teaching across European institutions Her research centers on strategic studies with particular focus on the cultural dimensions of warfare, nuclear strategy, and the historical evolution of strategic thought. Key research areas include strategic culture, military exercises as political instruments, laws of war development, and European defense policy. Her work bridges historical analysis with contemporary security challenges, examining how cultural narratives shape strategic decision-making from antiquity to the nuclear age. Professor Heuser's recent publications demonstrate consistent scholarly output across strategic theory, military history, and contemporary security issues. Her work shows particular emphasis on the conceptual foundations of strategic culture, historical analysis of warfare evolution, and practical applications to modern security challenges including nuclear deterrence and asymmetric warfare. The interdisciplinary nature of her research connects political theory, historical analysis, and security studies. She actively supervises graduate students in strategic theory, nuclear strategy, insurgency studies, and defense policy-making within NATO/EU contexts. Her teaching portfolio includes War and International Relations, Defense Policy, and Strategic Theory courses.
Prof. Dr. Christian Homburg holds the Chair of Business-to-Business Marketing, Sales & Pricing at the University of Mannheim's Faculty of Business Administration. Since 2007, he has been a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. His research spans marketing strategy, sales management, pricing, and customer relationship management, with a focus on business-to-business contexts. He collaborates with global firms such as Accenture, BOSCH, SAP, and BASF. Research Interests: Prof. Homburg explores topics like sales force automation, key account management, IoT in marketing, and augmented reality in sales. His work bridges academic theory and practical implementation, emphasizing organizational systems driving customer and competitor responsiveness. Scientific Awards: Hermann Billing Prize (1989) Multiple Best Paper Awards from the American Marketing Association (1997-2010) Louis W. Stern Award (2009) Best Paper Awards from Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and Journal of Business to Business Marketing Publications: Author of 7+ editions of Marketing Management , co-editor of the Handbook of Customer Loyalty Management , and contributor to leading journals like Journal of Marketing and Strategic Management Journal .
Joseph Eremondi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Regina, Faculty of Science, Canada. He began his tenure in 2024 after serving as a Royal Society Newton International Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, where he conducted postdoctoral research with Ohad Kammar in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science. He earned his PhD from the University of British Columbia (UBC) under the supervision of Ron Garcia at the UBC Software Practices Laboratory. His research is centered on programming languages theory, with a strong focus on type systems that enhance software reliability and usability. He is particularly known for his work in dependent types, gradual typing, and the integration of both paradigms. His research interests include: Dependent pattern matching and its semantic foundations Gradual dependent types and approximate normalization Error message generation and usability in dependently typed languages Static analysis using set constraints and SMT solvers Theoretical properties of reversal-bounded counter automata and shuffle operations His recent publications, appearing in premier venues like POPL, ICFP, and CPP, reflect a consistent trajectory toward making advanced type systems more accessible and practical. Key themes include coverage semantics for dependent pattern matching, formal models of gradual dependent typing, and improving the developer experience through better tooling and error diagnostics. Notable scientific recognitions include the NSERC Discovery Grant (awarded in 2025) and the prestigious Royal Society Newton International Fellowship. These awards underscore the impact and promise of his research program on the usability of dependently typed programming languages. Joseph is actively mentoring and recruiting graduate students, particularly in areas such as dependently typed programming (Lean, Agda, Idris, Coq), gradual typing, live programming environments, and static analysis. He emphasizes close collaboration within a small, focused research group. He has also served on program committees, including for TyDe and POPL Artifact Evaluation, demonstrating active engagement in the programming languages community. His work bridges theoretical rigor with practical implementation, evident in his artifact releases on GitHub and integration with tools like Ott and DrRacket. He maintains a personal website and open-source repositories that support reproducibility and community involvement.
Dr. Mathieu Joerger is an Associate Professor in the Aerospace & Ocean Engineering Department at Virginia Tech, leading the Assured Vehicle Autonomy (AVA) Lab. He holds a Ph.D. (2009), M.S. (2002), and Diplôme d’Ingénieur (2002) from Illinois Institute of Technology and INSA Strasbourg. His research focuses on navigation safety, multi-constellation GNSS, and autonomous system integrity. He serves as Technical Editor for IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems and co-leads the CARNATIONS initiative for resilient PNT systems. Notable awards include the ION Early Achievement Award (2015) and Bradford W. Parkinson Award (2009). Research interests include GNSS augmentation, LiDAR/IMU integration, and safety quantification for autonomous vehicles. His lab collaborates with industry/government on projects like CAAMS and develops methods to detect GNSS interference using UAS. Key publications address integrity monitoring in SLAM, particle filtering, and Kalman filter applications. Education: Ph.D. Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Tech (2009); M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Illinois Tech (2002); Diplôme d’Ingénieur, INSA Strasbourg (2002). Awards: ION Early Achievement Award, Outstanding NAVIGATION Reviewer, Bradford W. Parkinson Award. Professional Roles: Senior Editor for IEEE Transactions, ARAIM Standards Contributor, CARNATIONS Co-Director. Advises multiple PhD/Master’s students and oversees lab activities involving 20+ researchers. Projects include R-PNT systems, UAS-based RFI localization, and automotive GNSS safety. Active in international conferences like ION GNSS+ and AIAA forums.
Jan G. Voelkel is an Assistant Professor at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and the Department of Sociology at Cornell University. His research explores how micro-level preferences for equality and unity translate into macro-level political decisions, focusing on democratic attitudes, partisan dynamics, and moral framing. Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology, Stanford University M.S. in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University B.S. in Social Sciences, University of Cologne Voelkel’s work spans political psychology, metascience, and social policy, with a focus on interventions to reduce anti-democratic attitudes, partisan animosity, and gender bias in political leadership. His recent articles emphasize large-scale collaborations, reproducibility, and cross-partisan empathy. Scientific awards include: New Investigator Award (Behavioral Science & Policy Association) Public Sociology Award (American Sociological Association) Open Science Innovator Award (Stanford) Centennial Teaching Assistant Award (Stanford)
Ashli Owen-Smith is a behavioral scientist affiliated with the School of Public Health at Georgia State University , where her research focuses on mental health disparities, suicide prevention, and integrative/complementary approaches for complex mental-physical health conditions. She works with underserved populations including refugees/immigrants, incarcerated individuals, and LGBTQ+ communities through community-based participatory research and mixed-methods frameworks. Her current projects are funded by CDC , DBHDD , and DPH . Education: Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences (Emory, 2009), S.M. in Public Health (Harvard, 2005), B.A. in Psychology (Smith College, 2001) Her research spans mental health , trauma , suicide prevention , and mindfulness-based interventions . Recent work examines telehealth adaptations for chronic pain and mental health, vaccine hesitancy in refugee communities, and social determinants of suicide . She leads studies on gender-affirming care and health disparities in LGBTQ+ populations. Key article trends include epidemiological analysis of suicide risk factors, COVID-19 impacts on mental health, ICD-10 coding for autism, and complementary medicine in trauma recovery. Subfields span telehealth , health equity , mental-physical comorbidity , and community engagement . Students she has mentored include C.A. Scarlett , T. Griner , and M.M. Sesay . Her work integrates public health policy , clinical research , and health systems analysis .
William S. Horton (Sid) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University , where he has taught since 2005 and directed the Cognition and Communication Lab (Cresap 108). Starting in September 2025, he will serve as Chair of the Department of Linguistics . His research focuses on socio-cognitive mechanisms in language use, particularly discourse pragmatics , perspective-taking , and non-literal language processing . Education: B.S. in Psychology/German from Duke University (1991), M.A. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from University of Chicago (1994/1999) Previous roles: Postdoctoral research at SUNY-Stony Brook, Cognitive Aging at Georgia Tech Research trends from his 20+ years of publications include common ground , memory processes , figurative language , and age-related communication changes . His work increasingly incorporates computational text analysis and real-time digital communication studies. Awards : Fellow, Society for Text and Discourse Students : Supervised Ph.D. theses on conversational alignment, common ground activation, and digital communication. Undergraduate honors projects explore inhibitory deficits, speech internalization, and perspective-taking in bilingualism. Cognition and Communication Lab investigates language processing in spoken/written contexts using experimental methods and computational models.
Dr. Jasper Fessmann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis, joining in 2023 after serving at West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media. He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Florida, a Qualifying Certificate in University-Level Teaching from Technical University Berlin, and degrees in International Public Relations (MA, Boston University), Communication Arts (BA), and Philosophy (BA) from Georgia Southern University. His research focuses on public interest communications (PIC), international public relations, disinformation, and crisis communications. He pioneered the PIC field to advance social change, particularly countering climate denial campaigns. His work emphasizes strategic communication for NGOs, governments, and Fortune 500 companies, informed by 15 years in international PR agencies and pro bono projects on Holocaust remembrance. His publications analyze climate change communication strategies, crisis management, and non-profit communication frameworks. Recent articles address gamification in education to combat misinformation and cross-cultural crisis responses. His research bridges theoretical foundations and practical applications of strategic communication for societal benefit. Dr. Fessmann has no listed awards but has contributed to public interest initiatives globally. His advising and grants are not detailed in available texts, though his academic work suggests ongoing engagement with PIC and climate communication projects. He teaches university-level courses and maintains an office at Meeman Journalism 330.
Morris P. Fiorina is the Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He joined Stanford in 1998 after teaching at Caltech and Harvard. His academic credentials include a B.A. from Allegheny College (1968) and a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester (1972), both in Political Science. Fiorina's research focuses on American politics, emphasizing representation, public opinion, elections, and partisan dynamics. His influential works include Retrospective Voting in American National Elections , Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America , and Unstable Majorities . He has authored or edited thirteen books and numerous articles, challenging conventional views on polarization, electoral behavior, and political institutions. He has held editorial roles across a dozen political science journals and chaired the American National Election Studies Board (1986–1990). A distinguished scholar, he is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. He received Career Achievement Awards from the American Political Science Association's sections on Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior, as well as Political Organizations and Parties. Key Contributions: Pioneered studies on retrospective voting, party sorting, and the 'myth of polarization.' Public Engagement: Analyzes contemporary issues like divided government, electoral reform, and the role of third parties. Fiorina’s work bridges academia and public discourse, addressing critical challenges in American democracy. His current research continues to explore polarization, representation, and governance in the modern political landscape.
Tom van Laer is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Deputy Head of Discipline, Research at The University of Sydney Business School. He is globally recognized as the leading expert in storytelling and narrative persuasion, currently occupying the top position on Elsevier's SciVal top 100 list for the most-cited researchers in this domain. His academic journey includes a BA and MA from Nijmegen and a PhD from Maastricht University. Dr. van Laer's research explores storytelling, persuasion, and messaging through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges behavioral experiments, quantitative modeling, and interpretive research. His work spans narrative transportation theory, consumer reviews analysis, digital storytelling, and the psychological mechanisms behind how stories influence consumer behavior. He has developed influential frameworks including the Extended Transportation-Imagery Model and narrative agency theory, with particular expertise in analyzing how stories shape responses to climate change communications and social conflict narratives. His publication record features articles in the most prestigious academic journals including the Journal of Consumer Research (where he serves as Area Editor), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Information Systems, and International Journal of Research in Marketing. His recent work shows a strong trend toward meta-analyses of narrative effects, climate change communication, and the psychological mechanisms of 'bleed' between fictional experiences and real-world behavior. Dr. van Laer is an active media commentator whose research has garnered extensive global coverage across Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US, including national television and radio interviews. His media engagement focuses on storytelling in political campaigns, social media marketing, and the psychological impact of narratives in consumer contexts. He teaches MKTG3121 Advertising: Persuasive Principles and MKTG6006 Persuasive Advertising: Illuminating Dark Art, and has received recognition for both research and teaching excellence. His professional affiliations include the Association for Consumer Research, Australian Marketing Institute, Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy, and International Society for the Study of Narrative. Dr. van Laer is a member of several university research centers including the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, Sydney Environment Institute, and Charles Perkins Centre, where he contributes his expertise in narrative persuasion to interdisciplinary research on societal challenges.
Ian Miers serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, holding a joint appointment with the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) and serving as a core faculty member of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center (MC2). His academic home resides within the Department of Computer Science, though the overarching college/school structure is not explicitly stated in available materials. His research program centers on applied cryptography with a context-driven methodology: starting from real-world security challenges to develop deployable cryptographic protocols. Key focus areas include blockchain privacy (notably Zerocoin/Zerocash), zero-knowledge proofs, anonymous credentials, and secure messaging systems. Miers emphasizes practical implementations that address subtle security requirements in production environments, bridging theoretical cryptography with tangible system security. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals dominant trends in zero-knowledge proof scalability (zkSNARKs), privacy-preserving infrastructure for blockchains, and cryptographic solutions for content moderation in encrypted messaging. His work consistently targets deployable systems, with increasing focus on balancing privacy guarantees with accountability requirements in real-world applications. Miers actively recruits PhD students for hands-on research in his small lab, emphasizing direct collaboration on applied security and blockchain problems. As a founding scientist of Aleo, Bolt Labs, and Zcash, he translates academic research into commercial products, with his work receiving coverage from major media outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Wired.
Darren Dahl is a Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Sauder School of Business , holding the RBC Financial Group Professor of Entrepreneurship chair. His research focuses on new product development , creativity , consumer emotions , social influence , and social marketing . Education: BCom from the University of Alberta, PhD from UBC Leadership: Dean of the Sauder School of Business Research Trends: Recent work emphasizes innovation strategies , consumer identity dynamics , ethical marketing , and social impact . He explores how organizational structures influence perceptions, the role of identity in consumption, and the psychological drivers of prosocial behavior. Contact: Office HA 769, Tel: 604-822-8556, Email: darren.dahl@sauder.ubc.ca
Professor Shani Orgad is a leading academic in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she holds the rank of Professor. Her research focuses on gender, feminism, media representations, and globalization, with notable works exploring motherhood, work-life balance, and the intersection of media with contemporary cultural narratives. Education: Orgad earned a bachelor’s degree in Media and Communications from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, followed by a Master's and PhD in Media and Communications at LSE. She is renowned for her interdisciplinary approach, blending media studies with ethnographic research and sociocultural analysis. Research Interests: Her work critically examines media discourses around gender, motherhood, and inequality. Key themes include the 'confidence culture' critique, menopause visibility, and the role of media in shaping public perceptions of marginalized groups. She has also explored humanitarian communication and the challenges faced by NGOs in engaging the public. Awards: Orgad has been recognized for her teaching excellence, including the 2019 LSE Teaching Excellence Prize and the 2018 LSE Excellence in Education Award. Her book Confidence Culture (2022), co-authored with Rosalind Gill, challenges neoliberal individualism in modern feminist discourse. Public Engagement: She frequently contributes to public discussions on media and gender through blogs, podcasts, and media commentaries. Her work bridges academic rigor with societal relevance, addressing issues like pandemic resilience, menopause discourse, and the impact of social media on self-perception. Current Projects: During the 2024/25 academic year, Orgad is on research leave, focusing on new projects that continue her exploration of media, gender, and cultural dynamics.
