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Dr. Tobias Stark

Associate professor (UHD)
 
ERCOMER (European Research Centre on
Migration and Ethnic Relations)
Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science
Utrecht University, NL

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My research interests are in the field of ethnic prejudice, ethnic/national identities, and interethnic relations. In particular, I study how prejudice develops within social networks, how this affects and is affected by people's ethnic/national identities, and how this, in turn, causes changes in the structure of social networks. In my ERC consolidator program, I focus on people's perceptions of others' identities and their social ties. The main argument is that it's not a person's self-reported identification or social relationships that drive other people's behavior toward that person but how these people perceive the person's ethnic/national belonging and their embedding in a social network.

Though many of my projects are on “basic science,” I’m driven by the potential societal impact of my research. That’s why a large part of my attention has been directed at using my insights to develop intervention programs for (primary) schools that are designed to improve interethnic relations. For instance, I have cooperated with practitioners of the programs Discussieren Kun Je Leren, Welkom in Mijn Wijk, and One Globe Kids.

I integrate my work on interethnic relations with my interest in methodological research. For instance, some of my work concerns the improvement of measures of ethnic/racial attitudes and of methods to measure social networks. Together with Jon Krosnick, I have developed a new graphical interface (GENSI) to collect data on egocentric social networks in online surveys. Together with Tom Nijs and Zsofia Boda, I'm currently developing a new graphical software to collect whole network data and egocentric network data with smartphone surveys.

 NEWS

 

 

January, 2025: Book published
Finally, finally, finally, has our edited volume on racism and implicit bias appeared: Krosnick, Jon A; Stark, Tobias H. & Scott, Amanda L. (2025). The Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press

 

January, 2025: Article in press
I'm very excited to share that our article describing the behaviour change intervention to reduce bribery has just appeared: Baez Camargo, C.; Gadenne, V.; Mkoji, V.; Perera, D.; Persian, R.; Sambaiga R. & Stark, T. H. (2025). Addressing Bribery and Associated Social Norms in Healthcare: Results of a Behaviour Change Intervention in Tanzania. Euroepan Journal of Social Psychology.

 

December, 2024: Article in press
Our article on the role of shared interests for friendship formation using two-mode networks have just appeared: Beek, G.J.; Bronkhorst, L.H.; Stark, T.H.; Akkerman, S.F. (2024). My Interests Are (Y)ours? A Multilevel Social Network Analysis of the Co-Evolution of Adolescents’ Interests and Friendships. Education Sciences. 14, 1388.

 

December, 2024: Article in press
Our article comparing the simultaneous effects of various forms of positive and negative indirect contact has just appeared: Stark, T. H.; Nijs, T. & Köbrich, J. (2025). Additive and multiplicative effects of different forms of positive and negative indirect intergroup contact in predicting intergroup attitudes. International Journal of Intercultural Relations.

 

December, 2024: Article in press
The second article of my PhD student Julia Köbrich has just appeared online. We present very exciting mixed-methods research about the determinants of positive interreligious contact in Togo and Sierra Leone. Köbrich, J.; Stark, T. H.; Martinović, B. & Adiakpo Y.S. (2025). Overcoming barriers to interreligious peace: Determinants of preferences for religiously similar others in Togo and Sierra Leone. Political Psychology.

 

September, 2024: Conference organised
My DUALNETS ERC team organised a mini-conference with speakers who study dual identity and bi-cultural youth in the Netherlands and Germany. Speakers included Fenella Fleischmann, Yasin Koc, Sheida Novin, Lars Leszczensky and others.


 

September, 2024: Research presented
I was invited to present my work at the Intergroup Relations and Social Networks workshop at Nuffield College, Oxford University.


 

September, 2024: Article in press
The first article of my PhD student Anniek Schlette has just appeared online: Schlette, A., Stark, T. H., Smeekes, A., & Lubbers, M. (2024). Understanding causes of adolescents' ascriptions of peers' dual ethnic and national belonging. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 34(5)

 

August, 2024: Article in press
The last article of the PhD thesis of my former student Marija Dangubic has just appeared online: Dangubić, M., Verkuyten, M., & Stark, T. H. (2024). Critical Inclusiveness: Prejudice, principles, and the social acceptance of Muslim minorities. International Journal of Intercultural Relations

 

August, 2024: Article in press
The last article of the PhD thesis of my former student Nick Wuestenenk has just appeared online: Wuestenenk, N.; Nijs, T.; Stark, Tobias H.; van Tubergen, Frank & Ellemers, Naomi (2024). How do personal opinions relate to online expressions? The interplay of misperceptions and willingness to share opinions in full classroom networks: The case of opinions towards homosexuality. Social Networks

 

July, 2024: Article in press
The third article of the PhD thesis of my former student Nick Wuestenenk has just appeared online: Wuestenenk, N.; van Tubergen, Frank; Stark, Tobias H. & Ellemers, Naomi (2024). How do personal opinions relate to online expressions? An experimental study among Muslim minority groups in the Netherlands. Social Networks

 

May, 2024: Research grant
Together with Verena Seibel and Sheida Novin, I received an incentive grant from Utrecht University, funding one PhD student for our project "Recognition of adolescents’ multicultural strengths when entering the labor market: The role of social networks".


 

February, 2024: Teaching qualification committee
The dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Utrecht University has asked me to join the teaching qualification committee of our faculty. In this function, I will evaluate academics' portfolios to receive the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ), Senior University Teaching Qualification (STQ), and Senior Research Qualification (SRQ).


 

December, 2023: Research presented
I presented research on social network analysis in intergroup relations research at the Organizational Behavior Group, Utrecht, Netherlands.


 

November, 2023: Article in press
The first article of my PhD student Julia Köbrich has just appeared online: Köbrich, Julia; Martinović, Borja; & Stark, Tobias H. (2023). Interreligious contact and attitudes in Togo and Sierra Leone: The role of ingroup norms and individual preferences. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

 

November, 2023: ERC advisory committee
I participated for the second time in Utrecht University's ERC advisory committee, giving feedback to colleagues who prepare an ERC Consolidator Grant application.


 

October, 2023: Research grant
I received an EU Consortia Incentive Fund from Utrecht University to lead the preparation of a Horizon Europe proposal.


 

September, 2023: Rubicon committee
I was asked to join the evaluation committee of the Dutch national science foundation (NWO) for their Rubicon funding scheme in 2023 and 2024.


 

September, 2023: Research presented
I presented research at the workshop “agents in games and networks for collective action and information exchange”, Utrecht, Netherlands


 

July, 2023: Book chapter appeared
I was invited to co-author the chapter on social network analysis in the new edition of the Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology: Wang, Wei; Stark, Tobias H.; Westaby, James D.; Parr, Adam K. &Newman, Daniel A. (2023). Social Network Analysis in Psychology: Recent Breakthroughs in Methods and Theories. Pp. 501-537 in H. Cooper & M.N. Coutanche, L.M. McMullen, A.T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K.J. Sher (eds). APA Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology, 2nd Edition.

 

July, 2023: Research presented
I presented our research on the effects of different group labels on responses to racial prejudice measures at the ISPP conference in Montreal, Canada.


 

July, 2023: Ius Promovendi
I was awarded "ius promovendi", the right to award doctoral degrees in the Netherlands.


 

June, 2023: Research presented
I presented the first draft of our new software to measure social networks on smartphones at the workshop on social segregation in Mannheim, Germany.


 

May, 2023: Article in press
The second article of my PhD student Nick Wuestenenk has just appeared online: Wuestenenk, N.; van Tubergen, Frank & Stark, Tobias H. (2022). The influence of group membership on online expressions and polarization on a discussion platform: an experimental study. New Media & Society.

 

Februari, 2023: SKOz
I achieved the Dutch "Senior Research Qualification" (Seniorkwalificatie Onderzoek SKOz).


 

December, 2022: SKOw
I achieved the Dutch "Senior University Teaching Qualification" (Seniorkwalificatie Onderwijs SKOw).


 

May, 2022: Article in press
Li, Gabriel Miao; Pasek, Josh; Krosnick, Jon A.; Stark, Tobias H.; Agiesta, Jennifer; Sood, Gaurav; Tompson, Trevor & Gross, Wendy (2022). Americans’ Attitudes toward the Affordable Care Act: What Role Do Beliefs Play? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

 

May, 2022: Article in press
The first article of my PhD student Nick Wuestenenk has just appeared online: Wuestenenk, N.; van Tubergen, Frank & Stark, Tobias H. (2022). Attitudes towards homosexuality among ethnic majority and minority adolescents in Western Europe: the role of ethnic classroom composition. International Journal of Intercultural Relations.

 

March, 2022: ERC Consolidator Grant
I’m incredibly happy to share with you that I have won an ERC Consolidator Grant!! This allows me to build a team to examine how people’s perceptions of dual ethnic/national identifiers and their positions in social networks affect intergroup relations.

 

March, 2022: Article in press
Stark, Tobias H. & Stocké, Volker (2022).Predicting Data Quality of Proxy Reports in Egocentric Network Studies. Social Networks.
Our paper has finally appeared in print. You can use this link to download the article for free.

 

November, 2021: Promotion
As of November 1st, I have been promoted to associate professor (UHD).


 

July, 2021: Newspaper interview
I was interviewed about the potential societal consequences of abolishing all corona measures in the UK by the Dutch newspaper NRC.


 

July, 2021: Research presented
I presented our research updated measures of Symbolic Racism and Racial Resentment at the virtual ISPP conference.


 

April, 2021: Elected board member
I have been elected to the board of the James Coleman Association where I will fulfill the role of treasurer and secretary.