Linda Schlegel, Researcher in the Research Department Transnational Politics and co-project manager in the RadiGaMe project, has been awarded the first-ever Hessian Doctoral Prize for Democracy Research by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art, and Culture (HMWK). She received the award for her dissertation, defended in 2024, entitled “Storytelling Against Extremism: How insights on narrative persuasion and storytelling can improve theory and practice of digital narrative campaigns against ‘homegrown’ extremism.” The primary supervisor for the dissertation was Christopher Daase, Professor of International Organizations at Goethe University and Deputy Executive Director at PRIF. The secondary supervisor was Julian Junk, Research Professor for Extremism and Extremism Resilience at the Hessian University of Applied Sciences for Public Management and Security (HöMS) in Wiesbaden. The award honors promising young researchers and supports them in their further academic work on the topic of democracy.
In her dissertation, Linda Schlegel addresses a previously neglected issue in the prevention of extremism: How can digital narrative campaigns against extremism, known as counter- and alternative narratives (CAN), be made more appealing and effective? Based on literature on narrative persuasion—i.e., how and why stories influence opinions, values, and views, and how this can be used to bring about positive change—which has been virtually unused in prevention work to date, she shows which factors can strengthen CAN campaigns. Linda Schlegel thus creates a theoretical and practical basis for improving digital prevention services and combating extremism in the online space.
The jury, consisting of Swen Hutter (FU Berlin, WZB Berlin), Hubertus Buchstein (University of Greifswald), and Shalini Randeria (CEU Vienna, University of Bremen), praised the work for its outstanding scientific quality and its practical relevance for the prevention of extremism and the strengthening of democracy. The award ceremony took place on December 5, 2025, as part of an online book launch hosted by PRIF. In his award presentation address, Minister of Science Timon Gremmels emphasized the special importance of democracy research. “It lays the scientific foundation for factual arguments and options for action. I warmly congratulate Dr. Linda Schlegel on this award. Her work focuses on extremist propaganda that is spread online and threatens to negatively influence social discussions and weaken social cohesion. It also highlights ways in which negative propaganda and hate speech can be countered. In my opinion, this is highly relevant for the urgently needed prevention of extremism.”
Half of the €10,000 prize money will go to Linda Schlegel and half to democracy research at Goethe University. It is awarded as part of the “Strengthening Democracy Research in Hesse” program launched in 2024 and is intended to raise the social visibility of research on safeguarding democracy. Hessian universities and research institutions can nominate outstanding doctoral theses on democracy research for the prize, with up to three nominees being awarded annually.
The book “Storytelling Against Extremism. Advancing Theory and Practice of Digital Narrative Campaigns against Extremism,” based on her award-winning dissertation, was published in June 2025 in the series “Studien des Leibniz-Instituts für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung” by Springer VS. The first chapter is freely available online. Together with Aurelia Brandenburg and Felix Zimmermann, Linda Schlegel also published the handbook “Handbuch Gaming & Rechtsextremismus” with the Federal Agency for Civic Education, which brings together contributions from her and other researchers, including from PRIF.