Welcome
I study how messaging platforms like this one are reshaping politics, how they spread misinformation, deepen polarization, and move votes across Brazil and the Global South.
Read more about my work
Political Scientist
Fernando B. Mello
Postdoctoral Researcher · ERC "POLARCHATS" · University Carlos III, Madrid & Instituto Juan Linz
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I am a Postdoctoral Researcher on the ERC-funded POLARCHATS project at University Carlos III, Madrid and the Instituto Juan Linz. My research sits at the intersection of comparative politics, political communication, and political economy, with a focus on misinformation, polarization, lobbying, elections, and public policy.
I study key challenges of the digital democracy era: how political (mis)information spreads in the Global South, how polarization and partisanship structure citizens' behavior in Brazil, and how organized interests and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp shape what politicians do. Methodologically, I combine large-scale data with original field and survey experiments, often run in collaboration with political parties, legislators, and civil-society organizations, alongside qualitative interviews and causal inference.
Before academia I worked in journalism: I co-founded JOTA, a leading Brazilian legal-and-political data platform, and reported on national politics for Folha de S. Paulo and VEJA. That background still shapes how I think about evidence, accountability, and the public sphere.
I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science and an M.S. in Statistics from UCLA, and an M.A. in Latin American Studies and Government from Georgetown University.
Research agenda
How political (mis)information spreads through social and messaging platforms in the Global South, what makes it persuasive, how its style shapes its effects, and how rules like anti-misinformation laws reshape the way candidates campaign.
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The Journal of Politics · 2025
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How organized interests shape policy, when and why legislators respond to business and digital lobbying, and how shifts in the balance of organized competition can make once-infeasible reforms suddenly possible.
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American Political Science Review · 2026
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The roots and consequences of affective polarization in Brazil, partisan stereotyping, perceptions of status gain and loss, and how race, class, and gender structure the country's partisan divide.
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Latin American Politics and Society · 2024
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How voters hold leaders accountable, or fail to. Support for leaders who undermine democracy, credit-claiming without attribution, and how fears about migration and instability shape political attitudes.
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Politics and Governance · 2026
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Before my academic career I worked as a political and investigative journalist in Brazil. I co-founded and served as Data Director of JOTA, a leading legal-and-political data platform named Best Digital Media Startup in the World by WAN-IFRA (2019), and covered the Presidency and National Congress for Folha de S. Paulo and VEJA.
A selection of interviews, talks, and opinion writing across the Brazilian and international press.
Television · TV Cultura
Panelist on Brazil's flagship public-television interview program, questioning Supreme Court justice Luís Roberto Barroso on the consolidation and resilience of Brazilian democracy.
WatchPodcast
Guest on "Fora da Política Não há Salvação," discussing new empirical findings on petismo, antipetismo, and status-driven polarization in Brazil, with David Samuels and César Zucco.
ListenInterview · Canal Meio
On polling methodology and models to aggregate thousands of vote-intention surveys and read the odds of an election outcome.
WatchMagazine · revista piauí
A long-form feature on how psychology, status, and emotion concretely shape political behavior.
ReadEvent · Atlantic Council
Panel at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on Brazil's fight against corruption and its judicial cooperation with the United States during the Lava Jato era.
WatchInterview
A conversation with Aníbal Pérez-Liñán (Notre Dame) and Marcus André Melo (UFPE) on impeachment as a political weapon in Latin America.
WatchInterview
A conversation with Steven Levitsky, co-author of "How Democracies Die," on democratic crises amid pandemic and economic turmoil.
WatchBook launch · Insper
The Insper launch of Lobby Desvendado, book with Milton Seligman on lobbying, public policy, and corruption in Brazil.
WatchOpinion · El País
Opinion pieces on Latin American and Brazilian politics for El País (International), 2015 and 2016.
I'm always glad to discuss research collaborations, data, and the politics of the digital age. The fastest way to reach me is by email.
fernando.barros@uc3m.es