Hello!

I am a political sociologist and criminologist at the Institute of Penal Law and Criminology, University of Bern, and a research associate with the Insitute of Sociological Research (IRS), University of Geneva. I study social identities, social norms and digital technologies and how they shape migration, discrimination and violence in democratic societies.

My current work combines theoretical insights with computational methods (machine learning, NLP, social network analysis) across three research areas:
Social identity representation: I analyze how social identities are constructed and contested in digital discourse around contentious issues like extremism and political violence, and examine their influence on public opinion formation. Democratic norms and artificial intelligence: I study how societies adapt to rapid AI development, investigating whether these systems strengthen or undermine democratic norms and institutional practices. Networks of political violence: I examine the social network structures and relational dynamics that enable politically motivated violent groups to organize, coordinate, and achieve their objectives.

My research has been published in leading peer-reviewed sociology and criminology journals, as well as interdisciplinary journals, including European Sociological Review, Crime and Delinquency, and PLOS One.

I am a former fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School. I was a fellow with Harvard Kennedy School’s Cyber Project (2020-2022), a postdoctoral fellow with the Belfer Center’s International Security Program (2018-2020), and a member of the Belfer’s team that produced the National Cyber Power Index 2020 (downloaded more than 4,300 times). Previously, I held positions as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and as a graduate researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Foreign Criminal Law and Criminology in Germany (2013-2018). I am a recipient of grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the University of Bern, and the Fondazione Leonardo among others. I am a Board Member of the Academy of Sociology and serve as one of the 200 elected members of the Global Young Academy. I am also affiliated with the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Life Course Research and the Digital Society Initiative.

Curriculum Vitae (Updated June 2025)

Contact

Email: anina.schwarzenbach@unibe.ch

Address:
Department of Law
University of Bern
Schanzeneckstrasse 1, 3012 Bern
Switzerland