Obituary Dr. Jasmin Sarah König

10 September 2025

The Graduate Program mourns the loss of Jasmin Sarah König, who was taken from us far too soon in a tragic accident. Jasmin studied Political Science at the University of Hamburg, where she completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 2024 she successfully defended her PhD in the Graduate Program Collective Decision-Making, writing a dissertation on the interaction between populist parties and courts. Since then she had been pursuing her passion for combining data, politics, and communication as a data journalist and visual coder at Der Spiegel.

Jasmin was not only highly qualified but also a source of energy and engagement. She threw herself wholeheartedly into university life and the broader community. She served as the doctoral researchers’ representative on the board of the Graduate Program, she moderated events on extremism, populism, and democracy, and she contributed her voice to public panel discussions on these important issues.