Dr Verena K. Brändle

Dr Verena K. Brändle

Department of Political Science and International Studies
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Address
School of Government
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr. Brändle is a political scientist specialising in European politics. Her research focuses on topics related to digital democracy, social media, representation, and border politics, with an interest in connecting her research to issues and applications in Computational Social Science Methods for qualitative research designs.

Qualifications

Assistant Professor in Political Sciences and International Studies:

  • PhD, University of Copenhagen
  • MA in Contemporary European Studies, University of Bath, Sciences Po Paris, HU Berlin, FU Berlin
  • BA in Rhetoric (major) and Public Law (minor), University of Tübingen

Biography

Dr Brändle joined the Department in April 2023. She was previously a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna. Prior to that she held Postdoctoral positions in several international research projects at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Siegen.

 

In 2020 she was awarded a DFF-International Postdoctoral Grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark for a project entitled ‘Informing to dissuade: Governments’ digital information campaigns for migrants as bordering practices’. She was also a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute and a PhD Visiting Fellow at the Humboldt-University in Berlin.

Teaching

  • Research Design (2nd year undergraduate)
  • Digital Democracy (2nd year undergraduate)

Research

Her research interests include the democratic implications of social media, the representation of future generations as well as border politics.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Cinalli, M, Trenz, H-J, Brändle, VK, Eisele, O & Lahusen, C 2021, Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention over Refugees in Europe. Routledge Studies in Media, Communication, and Politics, 1st edn, Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367817169

Article

Siviş, S, Brändle, VK, Eberl, J-M, Wyatt, S, Braun, K, Metwally, I & Boomgaarden, H 2024, '‘Europe was a dream for me. This dream came true but remains unfulfilled at the same time’: Navigating life aspirations among forced migrants in Austria and Italy', Migration Studies, vol. 12, no. 3, mnae025. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnae025

Siviş, S, Brändle, VK, Eberl, J-M, Wyatt, S, Braun, K, Metwally, I & Boomgaarden, HG 2024, 'Oscillating Between Hope and Despair: Understanding Migrants’ Reflections on Ambivalence in ‘Transit’', Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2024.2337196

Brändle, VK & Eisele, O 2023, 'A Thin Line: Governmental Border Communication in Times of European Crises', JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 597-615. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13398

Brändle, VK, Eisele, O & Kulichkina, A 2023, 'The political contention of LGBTQ+ communities in the digital age - state of the art, limitations, and opportunities for comparative research', Journal of Information Technology & Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2023.2263758

Brändle, VK & Tolochko, P 2023, 'The ‘who is who’ of migration information campaigns on social media', Journal of Borderlands Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2023.2202210

Eisele, O, Litvyak, O, Brändle, VK, Balluff, P, Fischeneder, A, Sotirakou, C, Ali, PS & Boomgaarden, HG 2022, 'An Emotional Rally: Exploring Commenters’ Responses to Online News Coverage of the COVID-19 Crisis in Austria', Digital Journalism, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 952-975. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.2004552

Brändle, VK 2022, 'Well Informed? EU Governments’ Digital Information Campaigns for (Potential) Migrants', Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2022.2046896

Brändle, VK, Galpin, C & Trenz, H-J 2021, 'Brexit as ‘politics of division’: social media campaigning after the referendum', Social Movement Studies, vol. 21, no. 1-2, pp. 234-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2021.1928484

Brändle, VK 2020, 'Reality bites: EU mobiles’ experiences of citizenship on the local level', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 46, no. 13. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2018.1524750

Brändle, VK, Eisele, O & Trenz, H-J 2019, 'Contesting European Solidarity During the “Refugee Crisis”: A Comparative Investigation of Media Claims in Denmark, Germany, Greece and Italy', Mass Communication and Society, vol. 22, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2019.1674877

Chapter

Brändle, VK 2022, Claiming Authority Over ‘Truths’ and ‘Facts’: Information Risk Campaigns to Prevent Irregular Migration. in C Maximilian, G Hálfdanarson, A Michailidou, C Galpin & N Pyrhönen (eds), Europe in the Age of Post-Truth Politics: Populism, Disinformation and the Public Sphere. 1 edn, Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 151-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13694-8_8

Brändle, VK, Helles, R & Bruhn Jensen, K 2022, The communicative state of states. in K Bruhn Jensen & R Helles (eds), Comparing Communication Systems: The Internets of China, Europe, and the United States. 1st edn, Routledge, pp. 24-45. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057055-2

Cinalli, M, Eisele, O, Brändle, VK & Trenz, H-J 2020, Solidarity contestation in the public domain during the ‘refugee crisis’. in Citizens’ Solidarity in Europe. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789909500.00011

Trenz, H-J, Brändle, VK, Cinalli, M & Eisele, O 2020, Taking voice and taking sides: the role of social media commenting in solidarity contestation. in Citizens’ Solidarity in Europe. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789909500.00012

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