I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University St. Gallen specializing in the study of civic participation, political communication, and comparative politics. I completed my dissertation in June 2023 as part of the project “A non-populist theory of direct democracy”", funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at the University of Geneva.
The project involved piloting a novel process of political participation in Switzerland called the Citizens’ Initiative Review, where a small panel of randomly selected citizens informs fellow voters about an upcoming popular vote with a summary statement.
The first iteration of "Demoscan" took place in the municipality of Sion in the south-west of Switzerland (Canton of Valais) in fall 2019. The next pilot took place over two weekends in September 2021 at the cantonal level in Geneva, followed by further runs in the canton of Aargau and the city of Bellinzona (2023).
Ph.D. in political science, 2023
University of Geneva
M.A. in Empirical Social Sciences, 2018
University of Stuttgart
B.A. in Social Sciences, 2015
University of Stuttgart
Local mini-public discussing improvements in the development of the city quarter Entre-Bois
The first Swiss cantonal mini-public discussing a popular initiative proposal.
The first Swiss mini-public discussing climate policies at the cantonal level
The first local mini-public discussing climate protection policies in German-speaking Switzerland.
First pilot Citizens’ Initiative Review process in Switzerland.