sowi:doc Awards 2025

Following the European crisis of refugee governance in 2015, several countries, including Austria, Germany and Switzerland introduced public policies for the screening of asylum seekers’ smartphones. This measure raised critical questions about the politics and legitimacy of using data from personal digital devices as sources of evidence in asylum procedures. The dissertation develops an in-depth case study on smartphone data extraction as a novel policy instrument in migration governance. From a normative perspective, it shows how different conceptions of data justice can help navigate a legitimate balance of interests in the data-driven governance of asylum seekers. In particular, it advocates for extending attention beyond privacy and data protection concerns to address epistemic injustices. Empirically, the dissertation uncovers how this formalised policy instrument was implemented within a pre-existing culture of suspicion in an asylum bureaucracy that had already established informal epistemic practices surrounding personal devices in the search for evidence. While the smartphone data extraction policies constitute a significant interference with the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and raise critical questions regarding data quality, the policy making process simultaneously generated long overdue public scrutiny over the use of personal data in asylum procedures.

Ivan Josipovic defended his dissertation in November 2024 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna. Since July 2025, he is ÖAW Post-doc Track Fellow at the University for Continuing Education Krems. His research explores the use of AI and Open-Source Intelligence in immigration and border control contexts.

Contact: ivan.josipovic@donau-uni.ac.at

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, public concern grew over the persuasive – and potentially manipulative – power of political microtargeting. Although scholarly interest in this phenomenon has expanded considerably, evidence regarding its actual influence remains mixed and inconclusive. Across four interconnected studies, this dissertation explores the psychological mechanisms underlying attention, awareness, and resistance to microtargeted political messages. Overall, the findings suggest that the effects of political microtargeting are limited. Such advertising does not substantially increase citizens’ attention to political content, nor does it diminish their awareness of being exposed to persuasive communication. Most individuals do not appear particularly vulnerable to microtargeted persuasion (– though exceptions exist!). Moreover, recognizing that an ad is microtargeted does not necessarily prompt more critical reflection. Across the studies and the broader empirical landscape, one consistent factor emerges: source effects. Messages from politically aligned parties capture longer attention, elicit deeper cognitive processing, and shape attitudes more strongly. While this pattern is not unique to microtargeting, the technique may still amplify its impact by enabling parties to reach supportive audiences with unprecedented precision. Thus, although the persuasive power of political microtargeting may be modest, its broader democratic implications remain significant and warrant ongoing scholarly attention and critical scrutiny.

Selina Noetzel defended her dissertation in January 2025 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna. Since February 2025, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Klagenfurt. Her research explores political and health communication from a media psychological perspective.

Contact: selina.noetzel@aau.at

This paper-based dissertation explores how parenthood shapes poverty risks for women and men within different-sex couple households. Challenging conventional household-level poverty assessments, which assume full income pooling and shared economic risk, the thesis adopts an individual-level perspective to poverty risk, aiming to reveal hidden within-couple inequalities. The focus is on whether each partner can sustain a sufficient standard of living independently of their partner’s income, particularly in the context of parenthood, where within-couple income inequality is especially pronounced. Across three single-authored empirical studies, the thesis consistently demonstrates a gender gap in individual poverty risk, with mothers facing greater vulnerability than their partners—across different welfare state contexts and over time, focusing on the time around the first birth. Together, these studies contribute to debates on the conceptualization and measurement of gendered poverty risks, particularly within the family context and over the life course. By offering a more granular understanding of economic vulnerability, the thesis shows that household-level poverty measures often mask individual economic risks, particularly for mothers. 

Christina Siegert defended her dissertation in June 2025 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna. Since October 2025, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bamberg, Department of Sociology. Her current research explores the intersections of family, work, and poverty, with a particular focus on gender inequality across the life course.

Contact: christina.siegert@uni-bamberg.de