Meet our global team

Sahana Udupa

Founder and Principal Investigator

Sahana Udupa is professor of media anthropology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) and the founder of the Center for Digital Dignity.

Philip Baader

Computer Science Research Assistant

Philip Baader is a computer science research assistant at For Digital Dignity, Project ONLINERPOL.

Christiane Bayer

Research Associate

Christiane Bayer is a doctoral candidate of German Linguistics at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Her research focuses on (digital) Lexicography, Corpus Linguistics and Language Variation.

Gemechu Bekele Lemu

Doctoral Researcher

Gemechu Bekele Lemu is a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Ethnology, Ludwigs Maximilans University (LMU), Munich.

Bastian Buitkamp

Research Associate

Bastian Buitkamp is a Research Associate at LMU Munich and a member of the ERC-funded SMALLPLATFORMS project.

Laura Csuka

Research Associate

Laura Csuka is a research associate and consultant for the fordigitaldignity program.

Neelabh Gupta

Postdoc Researcher for SMALL PLATFORMS

Neelabh Gupta is a Postdoc Researcher at LMU, investigating Extreme Speech in India. He is a social anthropologist, primarily interested in anthropology of freedom, digital media and visual cultures in South Asia.

Miriam Homer

Research Associate

Miriam Homer is a research associate at the For Digital Dignity research program.

Jayana Jain

Postdoctoral Researcher

Jayana Jain has completed her PhD in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Münster as a member of the Graduate School Practices of Literature (GSPoL).

Byron Jones

Doctoral Researcher

Byron Jones is a doctoral researcher of Digital Anthropology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Max Kramer

Postdoctoral Researcher

Max Kramer is currently working on a post-doctoral research project within ONLINERPOL at the Ludwigs Maximilians University, Munich.

Antonis Maronikolakis

NLP Research Associate

Antonis Maronikolakis is an NLP research associate in the ERC Proof of Concept Project AI4Dignity.

Ananya Mehra

Research Associate

Ananya Mehra is a research associate at the For Digital Dignity research program. She has received a M.A. in Political Science from LMU Munich, where she is currently pursuing a M.A. in Social Anthropology.

Job Mwaura

Postdoc Researcher for SMALL PLATFORMS

Dr. Job Mwaura is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, working under the ERC-funded SMALL PLATFORMS project.

Leah Nann

Doctoral Researcher

Leah Nann is a Doctoral Researcher and Research Associate of Media Anthropology at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität München.

Pranav Ragupathy

Student Research Assistant

Pranav Ragupathy is currently pursuing his Masters in Data Science from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He previously completed a Bachelor’s in Computer Science & Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Craig Ryder

Postdoc Researcher for SMALL PLATFORMS

Dr. Craig Ryder is a digital anthropologist whose interests include the platformisation of information, emergent applications of AI, and digital research methodologies.

Mariana Arjona Soberón

Doctoral candidate (affiliated project)

Mariana Arjona Soberón, studied sociocultural anthropology at Yale University in the USA, followed by an interdisciplinary master’s degree in environmental sciences at the University of Cologne.

Ira Solomatina

Postdoc Researcher for SMALL PLATFORMS

Ira Solomatina is a postdoctoral researcher at the ERC-funded SMALLPLATFORMS project at LMU.

Naemi Stolte

Research Associate

Naemi Stolte is a research associate the For Digital Dignity research project. She is pursuing her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University.

Axel Wisiorek

Data Science Research Associate

Axel Wisiorek is a data science research associate in the ERC Proof of Concept Project AI4Dignity. He a doctoral candidate in General and Computational Linguistics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich.

Krishanu Bhargav

Memes Project Fellow

Krishanu Bhargav Neog is a Ph.D. student at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Sayan B

Field Research Partner

Sayan is a media practitioner, researcher and design enthusiast.

Deeksha M Rao

Field Research Partner

Deeksha M Rao holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science from Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.

Sudha Nair

Field Research Partner

A self-taught ethnographer, Sudha has spent a decade in education associated with Azim Premji University.

Thomas Hanitzsch

LMU Munich Partner

Thomas Hanitzsch is Chair and Professor of Communication at LMU Munich where he is currently Research Director in the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research.

Frank Heidemann

LMU Munich Partner

Frank Heidemann is Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at LMU Munich.

Stephan Luecke

AI4Dignity Expert Group Member

Stephan Luecke is a member of the expert group in the ERC Proof of Concept Project AI4Dignity. He is the deputy head of the LMU Center for Digital Humanities.

Hinrich Schuetze

AI4Dignity Expert Group Member

Prof Dr Schütze is the principal LMU partner for the AI4Dignity Project. He is the Chair of Computational Linguistics and Director of the Center for Information and Language Processing at LMU Munich.

Martin Soekefeld

LMU Munich Partner

Martin Soekefeld is Professor and Head of Department of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at LMU Munich.

Ilona Spalinger

Administrative Coordinator

Ilona Spalinger is the administrative coordinator at the office of Prof Udupa, and the key contact for administration related queries on Project ONLINERPOL and the Centre for Digital Dignity.

Abhineet Basan

External Consultant for Data Science and NLP

Abhineet Basan is an external consultant for Data Science and NLP in the ERC Proof of Concept Project AI4Dignity.

Ian Cook

Podcast Collaborator

Ian Cook runs the podcast at For Digital Dignity, Project ONLINERPOL.

Onurhan Demirkol

Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher

Onurhan Demirkol is a visiting postdoctoral researcher . He is currently conducting his independent project on the social determinants of anti-immigrant disinformation in Germany.

Florian Geierstanger

Designer and Editor, Digital Dignity Film Project

Florian Geierstanger is a web designer and documentary filmmaker.

Elonnai Hickok

Policy Consultant, AI4Dignity Project

Global Network Initiative (participating in individual capacity); Internet Governance

She is currently managing director of the Global Network Initiative, a multi-stakeholder forum for accountability, shared learning, and collective advocacy on government and company policies and practices at the intersection of technology and human rights.

Dorothy Lineer

Web Editor & Designer

Dorothy Lineer is Web Editor & Designer at For Digital Dignity, Project ONLINERPOL, managing the website and social media.

Jonatan Mizrahi-werner

Visiting Fellow from University of Copenhagen

Department of Sociology

Jonatan Mizrahi-Werner is a PhD fellow at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Sociology, where he studies online hateful meme-sharing from a microsociological perspective.

Vita Peacock

Humboldt Fellow (Independent Project)

Vita Peacock is a visiting Humboldt Fellow (2019) and a co-operation partner with For Digital Dignity, Project ONLINERPOL.

Zeynep Sariaslan

Visiting Fellow (Independent Project)

K. Zeynep Sarıaslan is a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Project ONLINERPOL LMU Munich and the Leibniz-Centre for Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin.