I am a Doctoral Researcher at the Berlin Graduate School for Global and Transregional Studies (BGTS) of SCRIPTS, the Cluster of Excellence at Freie Universität Berlin. My doctoral thesis investigates the interplay between reproductive rights and regime transformations. Additionally, I am a Visiting Fellow in the Transformations of Democracy Unit at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, directed by Daniel Ziblatt. My research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and I have presented my work at leading conferences, including the ECPR General Conference, the APSA Annual Meeting, and the MPSA Annual Meeting.

I hold a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from FernUniversität in Hagen, and a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Vienna. In recognition of my research achievements, I received the Hertie Data Science Award for my master’s thesis.

Previously, I worked as a Research Fellow at the German Bundestag for Anna Lührmann, the State Minister for Europe and Climate, as a research assistant for the CoronaNet Project, and as a program development assistant in New York, where I co-organized the Youth Assembly at the United Nations. I also have a diverse background in the art and publishing industries.

I am fluent in German and English and proficient in several other languages. I possess technical skills, including R and Python programming, Git & GitHub, MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and social media management.

Connect with me to discuss research, policy, or collaboration opportunities.

Research Interests

• Democratization and Autocratization

• Reproductive Rights

• Policy Process Research

• Computational Social Science and Text as Data

Upcoming Participations

• DiMES workshop on Automated Image and Video Analysis by Prof. Felicia Loecherbach, February 13-14, 2025
• ECPR Methods School Comparing Countries with Multivariate Statistical Techniques March 24–28, 2025
• Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) April 3-6, 2025
• 2025 Male Supremacism Studies Conference April 24-26, 2025

Peer-reviewed publications

Klatt, Nikolina and Blum, Sonja. 2024 “How does the use of evidence in policy narratives change during crises? A comparative study of New York City’s pandemic school shutdowns.” In: Review of Policy Research (online first), 10.1111/ropr.12589

Klatt, Nikolina** and Böhret, Ines**. 2021. “Women’s Rights in Childbirth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A comparison of WHO guidelines to policies, recommendations, and practices in the US and Germany” In: Cross-cultural Human Rights Review (3):1-41, http://doi.org/10.52854/cchrr-51. ** contributed equally

Other publications

Klatt, Nikolina. 2024. “Judicial Rulings and Political Narratives. Analyzing the Impact of Roe v. Wade’s Overturning on Digital Discourse Using Machine Learning”. WZB Discussion Paper SP V 2024-502. Berlin: WZB.

Klatt, Nikolina (2024): “Zwischen Fortschritt und Rückschritt. Der komplexe Kampf um Frauenrechte weltweit”. In: WZB-Mitteilungen, H. 1=Nr. 183, S. 33-36.

Boese-Schlosser, Vanessa A./Ellger, Fabio/Klatt, Nikolina/Ngiam, Janice/Ziblatt, Daniel (2024): “Als Begriff umstritten, als Modell umkämpft. Was Menschen in Deutschland unter ‘Demokratie’ verstehen”. In: WZB-Mitteilungen, H. 1=Nr. 183, S. 20-24.

Klatt, Nikolina/Boese-Schlosser, Vanessa A. (2023): “Authoritarianism and Disinformation. The Dangerous Link”. In: The Loop - ECPR’s Political Science Blog, 09.06.2023.

Klatt, Nikolina/Boese-Schlosser, Vanessa (2023): “Zwischen Fakten und Fiktion. Wie industrielle Desinformation die Demokratie bedroht”. In: WZB-Mitteilungen, H. 2, Nr. 180, S. 32-35.

Klatt, Nikolina; Hellmeier, Sebastian and Ziblatt, Daniel (2022): “Politische Gewalt und Demokratie. Konferenzbericht”. In: WZB-Mitteilungen, H. 4, Nr. 178, S. 62.

Klatt, Nikolina. 2022. “Die Schliessungen des öffentlichen Schulsystems in New York City während der Covid-19-Pandemie – Eine Fallstudie zu politischen Erzählungen.” In: Facetten Politischer Kommunikation – Beiträge zum 18. Düsseldorfer Forum Politische Kommunikation, edited by Lara Boden, Robin Schröer, Natalie Ryba, and Leon Becher, Shaker Verlag GmbH. https://doi.org/10.2370/9783844087567

Work in Progress

• Abortion Law and Democratic Backsliding
• Reproductive Regimes and Political Demography in the United States with Myra Marx Ferree
• What is Democracy to You? with Vanessa Boese-Schlosser, Janice Ngiam and Daniel Ziblatt
• “Democratization, de-democratization, and human rights,” chapter for the Handbook of Democratization and De-Democratization edited by Matthijs Bogaards
• “Authoritarianism and disinformation,” entry for the Encyclopedia of Authoritarianism edited by Thomas Ambrosio and Stephen Hall

CV

You can find my CV here.