I’m Julien Labarre, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) at the University of Zurich. Before joining IKMZ, I was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University, Dominguez Hills. I am also an affiliate of the International Panel on the Information Environment, a scientific initiative launched at the 2023 Nobel Prize Summit with the support of the Nobel Foundation. A Fulbright Scholarship brought me to the United States, where I earned my PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2024. 

As a political scientist, I specialize in political communication and political behavior. My research focuses on the media and the health of US democracy, with a focus on disinformation, polarization, and populist or extreme attitudes.

My academic work has been published in top-tier political science, communication, and computer science journals, including Political Communication, the International Journal of Press/Politics, the Journal of Information Technology & Politics, and the Proceedings of the ‘24 IEEE World Conference on Computational Intelligence. My work has also found its way into prominent international media, including The New York Times, ABC News, Bloomberg, Le Monde, CBC Radio Canada,  FRANCE 24, Libération, Diplomatic Courier,  Le Figaro, and Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS).

In the past, I have collaborated with NEPOCS as a French partner on THREATPIE projects, and I was a research partner at Democracy Reporting International.

When I'm away from work, I enjoy spending time with my four-year-old dog Jack.