Thorsten Faas (born 17 August 1975 in

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the respons ...

) is a German

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. He is a professor of political sociology at the Otto Suhr Institute of

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

Education

After obtaining his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1995 in

Kirn Kirn () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a Central place theory, middle centre serving an area ...

, Thorsten Faas studied political science at the

University of Bamberg The University of Bamberg () in Bamberg, Germany, specializes in the humanities, cultural studies, social sciences, economics, and applied computer science. Campus The university is partly housed in historical buildings in Bamberg's Old Town. ...

and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He completed his studies at LSE in 2001 with a Master of Science.

Career

From 2001 to 2003, he worked as a research fellow at the University of Bamberg, from 2003 to 2008, at the

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen () is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded 194th place in the world. It was originally ...

and from 2008 to 2009 at the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public university, public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Aca ...

. He earned his doctorate in 2008. His thesis was "Unemployment and voter behavior. Direct and indirect effects on voter turnout and party preferences in East and West Germany" under Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The thesis was awarded the German Political Science Association's prize for the best dissertation in 2011. From 2009 to 2012, Faas was a junior professor of political science, in particular voter behavior, at the University of Mannheim. From September 2012 to September 2017, he was a university professor in the field of "Empirical Political Research" at the Institute of Political Science at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. In October 1, 2017, he became a university professor in the Department of Political Sociology of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin. His research focuses on elections, electoral law, election campaigns and election studies. Since 2019, he has been co-host of the political podcast ''Unter 3'' on public television channel Phoenix together with Phoenix correspondent Erhard Scherfer. He regularly appears in German media outlets as an expert on elections and electoral campaigns.

Other activities

From 2021 to 2024 he was a member of the board of the German Political Science Association. He currently serves as an executive committee member of the German Society for Electoral Studies and a board member of the German Data Forum.

References

External links

Official homepage
of Thorsten Faas at the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin
Personal Homepage
of Thorsten Faas German political scientists University of Bamberg alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics German television personalities {{DEFAULTSORT:Faas, Thorsten 1975 births Living people