Emma Hoes
Political Scientist & Experimentalist · University of Zurich

Emma Hoes

Department of Political Science, University of Zurich

I study how digital technologies shape the information ecosystem and, with it, political behavior, trust in institutions, and what citizens come to believe. A current strand examines how online lifestyle content can persuade and shape political attitudes. I'm based at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich, with expertise in the design of survey and field experiments. I'm also the lead developer of VIRENA, a platform for controlled experimentation in realistic social media environments. I hold a PhD from the European University Institute (2021). I'm originally from the Netherlands, and love swimming when I'm not running experiments.

Publications

Peer-reviewed

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PSRM
Scientific Reports · forthcoming
Quality Perceptions and Intended Engagement in Response to AI-Generated and AI-Assisted News
Scientific Reports
Political Behavior
Int. J. Press/Politics
PNAS
Nature Human Behaviour
Comms Psychology
Nature Human Behaviour
Political Communication
Eur. J. Political Research
Scientific Reports
Eur. Political Science Review
J. Quantitative Description
2026Hoes, E. & Altay, S. Debriefings in Misinformation Research Should Include Fact-Checks to Correct Misperceptions and Increase Perceived Learning. Political Science Research and Methods. link forthcoming
2026Gilardi, F., Di Lorenzo, S., Ezzaini, J., Santa, B., Streiff, B., Zurfluh, E., & Hoes, E. Quality Perceptions and Intended Engagement in Response to AI-Generated and AI-Assisted News. Scientific Reports. link forthcoming
2025Hoes, E., Clemm von Hohenberg, B., Gessler, T., Qian, S., & Wojcieszak, M. (Media Attention to) Misinformation Can Undermine Trust in Scientists. Political Behavior. link
2025Altay, S., Hoes, E., & Wojcieszak, M. News Informs and Boosts Discernment: A Replication in France and Germany. International Journal of Press/Politics. link
2025Hoes, E. & Gilardi, F. Existential Risk Narratives About Artificial Intelligence Do Not Distract From Its Immediate Harms. PNAS. link
2025Altay, S., Hoes, E., & Wojcieszak, M. News on Social Media Boosts Knowledge, Belief Accuracy, and Trust: A Field Experiment on Instagram and WhatsApp. Nature Human Behaviour. link
2024Altay, S., de Angelis, A., & Hoes, E. Media Literacy Tips Promoting Reliable News Improve Discernment and Enhance Trust in Traditional Media. Communications Psychology, 2(74). link
2024Hoes, E., Aitken, B., Gackowski, T., Zhang, J., & Wojcieszak, M. Prominent Misinformation Interventions Reduce Misperceptions but Increase Skepticism. Nature Human Behaviour, 1–9. link
2024Marchal, N., Hoes, E., Klüser, K. J., Hamborg, F., Alizadeh, M., Kubli, M., & Katzenbach, C. How Negative Media Coverage Impacts Platform Governance: Evidence from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Political Communication, 42(2), 215–233. link
2023Nasr, M. & Hoes, E. The Times They Are A-Changing: An Experimental Assessment of the Causes and Consequences of Sudden Policy U-turns. European Journal of Political Research. link
2023Alizadeh, M., Hoes, E., & Gilardi, F. Tokenization of Social Media Engagements Increases the Sharing of False (and Other) News but Penalization Moderates It. Scientific Reports, 13. link
2023Hoes, E., Kamphorst, J., & Krouwel, A. Prominence over Proximity? The Effects of Terrorist Attacks on Party Preferences for Incumbent versus Populist Radical Right Parties. European Political Science Review, 1–19. link
2022Alizadeh, M., Gilardi, F., Hoes, E., Klüser, K. J., Kubli, M., & Marchal, N. Content Moderation as a Political Issue: The Twitter Discourse Around Trump's Ban. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 2. link
Book chapters

Book chapters

2027Hoes, E. Trust Erosion in the Digital Age. In M. M. Torres (Ed.), Public Trust in Institutions: Qualitative and Quantitative Perspectives. Elsevier. forthcoming
2022Hoes, E. De Media en Politieke Polarisatie: De Rol van Ons Gedrag. In P. Dekker (Ed.), Politieke Polarisatie in Nederland (Ch. 9). Het Wereldvenster.
Working papers

In progress & under review

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working paper
Indirect Effects of Content Moderation Errors: A Chatroom Experiment with AI Agents
working paper
working paper
Bystander or Bot? The Effects of Human versus AI Responses to Online Hostility
working paper
working paper
Following Alpha Male and Tradwife Influencers: A Field Experiment on Attitudes, Norms, and Wellbeing
working paper
working paper
Increasing Consumption of High-Quality News on Instagram and TikTok: A Field Experiment
working paper
working paper
Same News, Different Package: How Format Shapes Engagement with the News
working paper
R&R
in development
archived
archived
archived
archived
Indirect Effects of Content Moderation Errors: A Chatroom Experiment with AI Agents — with Giuliano Formisano, Colin Henry, Adiba Proma, K. Jonathan Klüser, Karsten Donnay, and Fabrizio Gilardi
Bystander or Bot? The Effects of Human versus AI Responses to Online Hostility — with Lasse Lindekilde, K. Jonathan Klüser, and Friederike Quint
Following Alpha Male and Tradwife Influencers: A Field Experiment on Attitudes, Norms, and Wellbeing — with K. Jonathan Klüser, Sacha Altay, and Vicente Valentim
Increasing Consumption of High-Quality News on Instagram and TikTok: A Field Experiment — with Erin Wertz and Magdalena Wojcieszak
Same News, Different Package: How Format Shapes Engagement with the News — with Erin Wertz and Magdalena Wojcieszak
AI-Generated Explicit Deepfakes Damage Politicians' Perceived Leadership Competence, Trustworthiness and Electoral Prospects — with Sophie Klüser and K. Jonathan Klüser R&R preprint
VIRENA: Virtual Arena for Research, Education, and Democratic Innovation — with K. Jonathan Klüser and Fabrizio Gilardi in development link
Archived
(Dis)information for Hire? Dispelling Exaggerated Concerns about Social Media Influencers' Role in Spreading Misinformation — with K. Jonathan Klüser preprint
The Blackbox of Social Media Content Moderation: A First Look into a Novel Twitter Dataset — with Maël Kubli and Natalia Umansky preprint
Leveraging ChatGPT for Efficient Fact-Checking — with Sacha Altay and Juan Bermeo preprint
The Effect of a Real-World, Long-Term Media Literacy Intervention: A Difference-in-Differences Approach preprint
Teaching

Teaching, workshops & supervision

Bachelor courses
Agenda Setting and the Media: Framing the Political Debate (Bachelor specialisation) · University of Zurich
Taught: Fall/Spring 2024/25 & 2025/26
Master courses
(Fake) News & What (Not) To Do About It · University of Zurich
Taught: Spring 2022, 2023, 2025 & 2026
Workshops
Experimental Design and Open Science · ECPR Methods School
Taught: Sep 2026
Digital Skills Workshop: Experimental (Survey) Methods in Social Sciences (Master & PhD) · University of Lucerne
Taught: Fall 2025
From Dream to Draft: Converting Ideas to Text with a Compelling Start (PhD) · University of Zurich
Taught: Spring 2024
Supervision

I supervise students at both the BA and MA level. To date I have supervised 4 MA students and 19 BA students. One of my BA supervisees received the Department of Political Science's Best Bachelor Thesis award (University of Zurich, 2025).

Contact

Get in touch

Email is the best way to reach me: hoes@ipz.uzh.ch

Department of Political Science
University of Zurich
Affolternstrasse 56
8050 Zurich, Switzerland

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