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Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino
Visiting Fellowship 2026/27

Gwenaëlle Bauvois, PhD

University Researcher, University of Helsinki, Finland

Gwenaëlle Bauvois holds a PhD in Sociology and works as a researcher at the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on extremism, the far right, populism, conspiracy theories, countermedia, and anti-immigration and anti-gender movements.

Gwenaëlle Bauvois is part of the Horizon research consortium ‘Analysis and Responses to Extremist Narratives’ (ARENAS). She has collaborated on several reports in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary History, on the historical roots of extremist narratives in Europe (2024), Extremist narratives in parliaments in Europe and Extremist narratives in the media (2026). She is also a researcher in the NordForsk project KOMKRIS – Governance and resilience under antagonistic threats in the NB8 region in times of complex crisis, which examines questions of governance, resilience and societal security in the Nordic and Baltic region.

She serves as an expert in the EU Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation (Thematic Panel 1, Ideologies and Conspiracy Narratives). She is affiliated with the HEPP Helsinki Hub on Emotions, Populism and Polarisation and RADIA – the Finnish Knowledge Center for the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation and Extremism. She also serves on the boards of ETMU – The Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration, and the European Sociological Association Research Network 15 on Global, Transnational and Cosmopolitan Sociology. Internationally, she has been a visiting researcher at Stanford University and the Australian National University.

Statement of interest:

This fellowship offers an excellent opportunity to deepen my collaboration with colleagues at the Institute of Contemporary History, building on our joint research into both the circulation of extremist narratives. It will also enable me to develop a more nuanced understanding of Slovenia’s historical, political and societal context, thereby enriching our comparative research and providing important insights into the contemporary dynamics we examine. Working alongside leading scholars of political and social history will further strengthen the interdisciplinary dimension of my research, allowing me to connect historical perspectives with contemporary sociological and political analysis. I particularly value the opportunity to develop this dialogue between historical and contemporary approaches, which is central to understanding how extremist ideas emerge, evolve and acquire political significance.

Selected Publications:

  • Pyrhönen, N., Bauvois, G., Berg, A., & Holley, P. (2026). Conspiracy talk in the lives of ordinary Americans: Everyday experiences of conspiracy culture in contemporary America. Social Forces. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soag002
  • Pyrhönen, N., & Bauvois, G. (2020). Conspiracies beyond Fake News: Produsing Reinformation on Presidential Elections in the Transnational Hybrid Media System. Sociological Inquiry, 90(4), 705–731. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12339
  • Ylä-Anttila, T., Bauvois, G., & Pyrhönen, N. (2019). Politicization of migration in the countermedia style: A computational and qualitative analysis of populist discourse. Discourse, Context & Media, 32, 100326, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100326
  • Bauvois, G. (2025). Goddesses of Vengeance: How Far-Right Feminist Groups Co-opt Women’s Rights to Fuel Polarization and Violence. In E. Bechtold, C. Burbano Herrera, Z. Grossi, & Y. Haeck (Eds.), Echoes of Hate: Digital Communication, Populism, and the Regulation of Hate Speech (pp. 111–128). University of Ghent.
  • Bauvois, G., & Jareño Gila, C. (2025). El colectivo Némésis: la venganza de las feministas de extrema derecha. Ensambles, 153–182. https://revistas.ungs.edu.ar/index.php/ensambles/article/view/1222?utm_source=chatgpt.com