Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region

The Emmy Noether Research Group on Mediating (Semi-) Authoritarianism - The Power of the Internet in the Post-Soviet World is funded by the German Research Foundation DFG (2014-2021). The project investigates the interrelations of internet-mediated communication and politics in the post-Soviet region and, at a more abstract level, compares publics across authoritarian regimes.

The Consequences of the Internet for Russia’s Informational Influence Abroad (RUSINFORM) is a five-year project (2019-2024) funded by the European Research Council (ERC). It investigates how, and with what consequences, new Internet-based technologies have contributed to the emergence of novel resources, techniques and processes by which political Russian elites can influence media audiences abroad.

Professor Florian Toepfl holds the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region. Prior to joining the University of Passau in 2019, he was an Emmy Noether junior research group leader at the Freie Universität Berlin (2014-2019) and a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2012 to 2014).