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Greetings!
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​I am a senior lecturer (equivalent to US assistant professor) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where I direct the Peace & Conflict Lab. I study conflict, protest, and networks. In my research, I investigate the following questions:

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  1. How do social networks that bridge ethnic divides affect people's behavior during genocide and ethnic war?​​

  2. What role did interracial friendships play in mobilizing massive turnout during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests? 

  3. Does exposure to deepfakes on social media reduce our trust in real images of wartime suffering? Does it reduce our sympathy for the victims?

  4. Does news coverage of wars elsewhere in the world inflame ethnic tensions in postconflict states?

  5. Can reminding people that their ancestors were refugees increase empathy for today's asylum seekers?

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I am currently on sabbatical at the Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affiars writing a book baout rescuing and assistance during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. I have articles in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics and the British Journal of Political Science. I earned my Ph.D. in network science from Northeastern University, where I was a Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellow, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Pennsylvania. My work has been covered in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Haartez, CBS, and NPR. I can be reached at matthew.simonson@mail.huji.ac.il
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