Since 10/2026: Professor of Political Psychology, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau

03/2025 – 09/2026: Research Associate (Post-Doc), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

05/2024 – 07/2024: Research Stay, University of Kent

09/2023 – 01/2024: Research Stay, University of Chicago (Fulbright Scholarship)

04/2020 – 02/2025: Research Associate, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Phd Scholarship of the Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Study Foundation, BMBF)

02/2018 – 05/2018: Research Stay, Tel Aviv University

10/2017 – 03/2020: Master of Science Psychology, University of Münster (Scholarship of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, BMBF)

10/2014 – 09/2017: Bachelor of Science Psychology, University of Münster and University of Zurich (semester abroad)

• Collective memory
• Intergroup processes
• Political apologies
• Minority perspectives
• Satisfaction with democracy

Kazarovytska, F., Hilbert, M., & Ionescu, D. (2026). Contact as collective action: Positive and negative contact experiences of disadvantaged group members. Political Psychology, 47, e70188. doi.org/10.1111/pops.70188

Kazarovytska, F., Árnadóttir, K., D’Ottone, S. A., Halabi, S., Clarke, E. J. R., Sharma, S., Heidrich, V., & Imhoff, R. (2026). Do people across the world want to remember positive ingroup histories? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000513

Kunst, J. R., Besta, T., Jaśkiewicz, M., Gajda, A. N., Sanden, M., Flatebø, M. M., Adebayo, S. O., Adonis, M., Agyemang, C. B., Boateng, R. A., Akfirat, S. A., Al-adawi, S., Ambrosio, C., Anjum, G., Aruta, J. J. B. R., Austers, I., Barry, O., Bastian, B., Becker, M., Bender, …, Kazarovytska, F., …, & Obaidi, M. (2026). The psychology of offensive and defensive intergroup violence: Preregistered insights from 58 countries. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2535665123

Bertlich, T., Kazarovytska, F., & Imhoff, R. (2026). Just a means to an end? Individuals support direct democracy instrumentally, irrespective of conspiracy mentality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2026.104905

Bilewicz, M., Imhoff, R., & Kazarovytska, F. (2026). Diversity, equity, and inclusion: The forgotten issue of antisemitism. In V. Esses, J. Dovidio, J. Jetten, D. Sekaquaptewa, & K. West (Eds.), The Sage handbook of psychological perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion (pp. 438–452). Sage. Open-access preprint: https://osf.io/rgcdv/

Bläsi, J., Frenken, F., Farkhari, F., & Kazarovytska, F. (2026). Commemorating or closing? A mixed-methods approach to understanding perpetrator memory in Germany. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. doi.org/10.1037/pac0000820 Open-access preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7g6dh_v1

Kazarovytska, F., Imhoff, R., & Hirschberger, G. (2025). Beyond victimhood and perpetration: Reconstruction of the ingroup’s historical role in eight Eastern and Western European countries under Nazi occupation. Political Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.13037

Kazarovytska (2024). Identity protection and collective (non-)remembrance [Doctoral dissertation, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz]. https://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-11822 *
*Heinz-Heckhausen Best Dissertation Award 2026 of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), Gert Sommer Award for Peace Psychology 2026, Honorable Mention ISPP Best Dissertation Award

Kazarovytska, F. & Imhoff, R. (2024). Rejecting an intergroup apology attenuates perceived differences between victim and perpetrator groups in morality and power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 127(4), 846–879. doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000456

Kazarovytska, F. & Ionescu, D. (2024). “The first Jewish person I’ve ever met”: Insights from a field study on Jewish–non-Jewish contact in Germany. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 12(1). 108-125. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.12269

Kazarovytska, F. & Imhoff, R. (2024). Three fish at one hook? Future-oriented, reconciliatory, and defensive claims for historical closure as expressions of the same defensive desire. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 50(3), 351-370. doi.org/10.1177/01461672221124674 *
*SPSP Student Publication Prize 2023

Ionescu, D. & Kazarovytska, F. (2024). Antisemitismus im Kontext von jüdisch-nichtjüdischen Begegnungen. Perspektiven und Erfahrungen von Jüdinnen: Juden in Deutschland. In S. Schüler-Springorum (Ed.), Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung 33 (pp. 136–163). Metropol.

Kazarovytska, F. & Imhoff, R. (2023). No differences in memory performance for instances of historical victimization and historical perpetration: Evidence from five large-scale experiments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 150. doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104440*
*Best Publication Award 2023 of the Social Psychology Division, German Psychological Society (DGPs)

Kazarovytska, F. & Imhoff, R. (2022). Too great to be guilty? Individuals high in collective narcissism demand closure regarding the past to attenuate collective guilt. European Journal of Social Psychology, 52(4), 1-24. doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2850

Kazarovytska, F., Kretzschmar, M., Lamberty, P., Rees, J., Knausenberger, J., & Imhoff, R. (2022). From moral disaster to moral entitlement – The impact of success in dealing with a perpetrator past on claims for historical closure. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 10(1), 48-71. doi.org/10.5964/jspp.8337

• BMFTR Individual Project Grant, Antisemitism in the Workplace (A³) – Principal Investigator and Project Leader (in collaboration with Micha Hilbert, Carmen Binnewies, Roland Imhoff, the Foundation EVZ, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Münster e.V.)
• DFG Research Grant, Third-party judgments of apology rejection in intergroup conflicts (KA 6824/1-1)

• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the EU-funded ECHO’GR project on the culture of remembrance in the Greater Region (participating countries: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and Germany)

Academic research aims to expand our understanding of the world for the benefit of society. It is a fascinating, engaging, and fun endeavor. It is also a risky endeavor. Research often involves a process of trial and error, and mistakes are an inevitable part of learning. The knowledge research generates is tentative, and even after completing a study, we often do not know the answer. Still, by approaching research through a collective effort (many independent studies employing different methods!), a collaborative approach (constructive feedback and supportive mentorship!), and transparent reporting of procedures and findings, we may gradually develop a better understanding of the world. Or so we hope. 

This philosophy continues to evolve and is a constant work in progress. It describes ideals that I myself fail to live up to more often than I would like to. Nevertheless, reflecting on the broader purpose and practices of academic research seems useful for advancing the field of political psychology.