On 11 March 2026, at the annual colloquium of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Research (AFK) in Leipzig, Christopher David received the Christiane Rajewsky Award for the best master’s thesis of the year in the field of peace and conflict research in the German-speaking world.
In his master’s thesis he analyzed how right-wing and far-right actors use online platforms to spread their ideologies, foster a shared group identity, and recruit new followers. As part of detailed case studies, Christopher David examined two prominent examples: incel.is and Stormfront. Through digital ethnographic field research, he collected extensive empirical data on these platforms, thereby providing – at times frightening – insights into a world otherwise largely hidden from the public. The discourses and interactions observed there, however, can have direct implications for the real world and sometimes even translate into overt violence. Even operational lone actors are usually directly or indirectly embedded in social contexts through the digital world. The work is thus both scientifically excellent and socially relevant.
Christopher David completed his thesis as part of the Master’s programme in Peace and Security Studies (MPS) based at the IFSH. His thesis was supervised by PD Dr. Hendrik Hegemann and Dr. Holger Niemann. After successfully completing a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Würzburg, Christopher David pursued the MPS program at the University of Hamburg from October 2022 to July 2025. Even after graduation, he has remained in academia and has been working at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences in the Information Systems department since August 2025. Here, he is building on the interests explored in his master’s thesis and, as part of his dissertation, is investigating how certain digital platform architectures facilitate radicalization and where interventions can be implemented to counteract it.
Since 1993, the AFK has awarded the Christiane Rajewsky Award to “young researchers who have made an outstanding contribution to peace and conflict research with their master’s thesis or dissertation.”
The IFSH warmly congratulates Christopher David on this great achievement.
