Katalina Toth
Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow
Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University
Advised by Gary King
About
I am a Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, where I work with Gary King on projects examining survey instability and the spread of conspiracy theories on social media.
My research centers on health policy, social determinants of health, and methodology. I am especially interested in how scientists and politicians communicate with the public, and how those conversations impact physical and mental health, particularly for vulnerable communities.
I graduated from Harvard summa cum laude with an A.B. in Government and French and a Secondary in Psychology. My senior thesis, co-advised by Antonia Maioni at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and Christie McDonald in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, examined the development of Indigenous health policy in Canada and its effects on health outcomes, and received the Eric Firth Prize. Prior to that, I conducted research with Mark Hatzenbuehler at Harvard Psychology’s Biopsychosocial Effects of Stigma Lab, with Jennifer Lerner in decision science at the Kennedy School, at the University of Chicago Urban Health Labs, at Harvard’s Center for European Studies, with the Institute of Politics’ Education Policy Team, and with Richard Koestner at McGill University’s Human Motivation Lab.
Outside of research, I was a Senior Editor for the Harvard International Review. I was also Co-Director of Harvard Artists for Alzheimer’s, a program providing weekly artistic programming and community to the residents of the Cambridge Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. My own artistic pursuits involve designing and creating clothing from recycled materials, and making pottery inspired by textiles and other media.
- Political communication
- Misinformation & conspiracy theories
- Public opinion & survey methodology
- Health policy
- Stigma & mental health
Research
Publications
- Indigenous Peoples and Empowerment via Technology
First Peoples Child & Family Review, 13(1): 16–28
Conference Presentations
Power to the Individual, Knowledge to the Public: a Foucauldian Reconsideration of Indigenous Self-Determination in Canada
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference, Temuco, Chile
Stigma and Emotional Processing: Evidence from a Systematic Review
Society for Affective Science Annual Meeting, Portland, OR
A study of the effects of moving meditation on attention in young adolescents
Learning and the Brain Conference, San Francisco, CA
Research Experience
- Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow 2025–present
Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University · Gary King
Conspiracy theory activity on social media and eye-tracking to understand survey instability.
- Honors Thesis 2024–25
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University · Antonia Maioni
The development of Indigenous health policy in Canada and its effects on health outcomes, drawing on archival sources and the work of Michel Foucault.
- Research Assistant 2023–24
Biopsychosocial Effects of Stigma Lab, Harvard Psychology · Mark Hatzenbuehler
State-level legal protections for stigmatized populations and health outcomes; predictors of alcohol misuse after exposure to stigma among sexual violence survivors.
- Research Assistant 2023–24
Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University · Gary King
Communication norms in scientific communities and their impact on the spread of information and disinformation.
- Research Assistant 2022–23
Harvard Kennedy School of Government · Jennifer Lerner
An intervention to improve mental health among Head Start teachers and staff.
- Intern 2022
Harvard Global Health Institute & University of Chicago Health Lab · Rebecca Neusteter
Transform911 (behavioral-team responses to mental-health 911 calls) and CTIME (supporting previously unhoused individuals with serious mental illness in the transition to housing).
- Research Assistant 2020–22
Human Motivation Lab, McGill University · Richard Koestner
Mental health and the pandemic in minority communities, and the role of personality and self-determination in resilience among university students.
Teaching
- AI and Machine Learning for the Social Sciences 2026
Writing
Awards
- 2025 Sophia Freund Prize — awarded to the students graduating summa cum laude with the highest GPA
- 2025 Eric Firth Prize — Government Department thesis prize for the best essay on the ideals of democracy
- 2024 Phi Beta Kappa Junior 24 — 24 students selected based on academic merit, breadth and depth of coursework
- 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 John Harvard Scholar (top 5% of class)
- 2022 Detur Book Prize — outstanding academic merit in first 3 semesters
- 2021 Lieutenant-Governor's Medal of Quebec — student best exemplifying community leadership
Art
A gallery of selected works, including images from a 2019 show where I designed and sewed 27 garments from reclaimed fabric to draw attention to the environmental and human costs of fast fashion.
Fashion
Ceramics
More images coming soon.
Contact
ktoth@iq.harvard.edu
Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University