Meet our global team

For Digital Dignity, Project ONLINERPOL is run by a core team of researchers at LMU Munich headed by Principal Investigator Sahana Udupa. We work with a global network of cooperation partners and collaborators and receive invaluable guidance from our advisory board. We are working on a number of projects. Resources are continuously added here as our research develops. You can also listen to our podcast, entitled 'Online Gods', here.

Encrypted Messaging and Extreme Speech CAS Research Group

Anmol Alphonso

Fact Checker, BOOM

Anmol Alphonso is a senior fact-checker with BOOM, India. BOOM is India's leading fact-checking platform, dedicated to fighting misinformation and promoting a safer online space with verified facts.

Sérgio Barbosa

Ph.D. at University of Geneva

Social Studies

Sérgio Barbosa is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva and is affiliated with the Institute of Citizenship Studies (InCite).

Cayley Clifford

Deputy Chief Editor, Africa Check

International Relations

Africa Check is a non-profit fact-checking organization founded in 2012 to promote accuracy in public debate and the media in Africa.

Kiran Garimella

Professor at Rutgers University

Library and Information Science

Professor at Rutgers University Library and Information Science Kiran Garimella is Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University.

Martin Riedl

Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Journalism and Media

Martin Riedl is Assistant Professor at the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Erkan Saka

Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University

Communication Studies

Erkan Saka is Professor of media and journalism studies at the School of Communication at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Herman Wasserman

Professor at Stellenbosch University

Journalism, Communication Studies

Professor at Stellenbosch University Journalism, Communication Studies Herman Wasserman is Professor of Journalism and Chair of the Department of Journalism at Stellenbosch University.

Christian Fuchs

Christian Fuchs is a cooperation partner with For Digital Dignity, Project ONLINERPOL and Professor at the University of Westminster, where he is the Director of the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) and the Director of the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies.

Iginio Gagliardone

Iginio Gagliardone is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and is Associate Research Fellow in New Media and Human Rights in the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), University of Oxford.