About me

I’m a senior researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS). I completed my PhD in Political Science at the University of Toronto. I’m a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow (MMF) (2025).

At IDOS, I offer policy advice to German and international stakeholders on countering digital authoritarian propaganda, based on insights from my experimental and computational research within a project team analyzing global autocratization and polarization trends. I launched a new research-based policy initiative, called Corporate Civic Responsibility in Safeguarding Democracy (#DEMCOR), which aims to map global business initiatives for protecting democracy and, through experiments, identify what motivates firms to take action. In addition, I lead an initiative to reform programming, consulting, and capacity building in the development cooperation sector, using a multi-agentic AI architecture.

I study how dictators drive support for their regimes through propaganda, repression, and polarization, and which counter-mobilization and international assistance strategies can mitigate their effectiveness. My dissertation research is about how and why autocrats financially coerce their closest business allies during sovereign debt crises. I also contribute to the computational and experimental methodological tools in political science research. I am part of several novel data collection efforts, including developing measures of autocratization and leader prosecutions. My co-authored papers are published in leading journals in our discipline, such as Journal of Democracy, Sociological Methods & Research, Government & Opposition, and Comparative Politics.

Previously, I was the co‑founder of a Toronto‑based political risk consultancy company, Maidan Analytics, which leverages proprietary algorithms to forecast protests and elections. Before my doctoral studies, I worked as a social policy researcher at Development Analytics, offering quantitative analysis support for reports delivered to international organizations.

I also co‑founded two social impact initiatives. One, CityInclusive, based in Montreal advocated for social inclusion in the design of smart cities. The other, Co-Opinion Network, based in Istanbul, mobilized more than 30 stakeholder organizations in six countries across the MENA region to foster inclusive economies in the region in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

During my doctoral studies, I was a graduate associate at POSTCOR Lab, a Trudeau Centre Fellow at the Munk School, a fellow at Jeanne Sauvé Foundation, and a Regional Manager at Digital Society Project. I’m a member of the Global Relations Forum. I’m also an alum of Massey College.

You may also find me occasionally singing at open mic events.