Maurits van der Veen

Political scientist & computational social scientist at William & Mary

Welcome!

I am an Associate Professor of Government at William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. Prior to coming to William & Mary in 2010, I taught at the University of Georgia and the University of Pennsylvania.

My research investigates the origins and impact of perceptions and beliefs in international relations, with a focus on beliefs about “others”: members of different minorities, (im)migrants, foreigners, etc. As a computational social scientist, I am particularly interested in measuring different aspects of beliefs and attitudes in texts, ranging from legislative debates to newspapers to social media.

Current projects include measuring emotions and moral judgments in political debates about migrants, analyzing the spread of cultural ideas across borders, and studying the presence and depth of international solidarity within the European Union.

I am also a serious runner, and used to race marathons regularly (that’s me on the left).

Note: this website is under construction through the end of 2021. Apologies for broken links or strange text!