Guest Researchers
Our guests are researchers from Germany, Europe and all over the world. They work on inequality and stay in Konstanz for a time to engage with scientists at the Cluster.
Dr. Swen Hutter
Swen Hutter is Lichtenberg Professor of Political Sociology at Freie Universität Berlin and Director of the Center for Civil Society Research, a joint institution of Freie Universität and the Social Science Research Center Berlin WZB.
His research interests lie where political sociology and comparative politics intersect; he is particularly interested in the changing dynamics and structuring of political conflict and civil society in European democracies.
The Centre for Civil Society Research investigates the foundations, self-understanding and change of civil society in contemporary democratic societies. Using an integrative research approach, it systematically combines protest and social movement research with the empirical analysis of political conflict structures and research on social capital. By analysing political conflicts and transformations in civil society over longer periods of time, the Centre provides answers to fundamental questions about the future of democracy and social cohesion. Furthermore, the Centre makes an important contribution to the data infrastructure for the long-term observation of party competition and protest in Europe. The Manifesto Project and the Observatory for Political Conflict and Democracy (PolDem) are based at the Centre.
You may contact Swen Hutter by email.
Dr. Adrian Rinscheid
Adrian Rinscheid is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Governance and Politics at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research interests comprise comparative politics, political behavior, and the role of political discourse in shaping perceptions, political agendas, and public policies. Currently, Adrian investigates the socio-political drivers of transformation in the transport and energy sectors, and citizens' perceptions at the intersection of climate policies and economic inequality.
At the cluster, he collaborates with Prof. Marius Busemeyer to investigate citizens’ perceptions of fiscal policies that affect both income redistribution and transport behavior. Moreover, he conducts a study together with Prof. Sebastian Koos to understand whether and how covid-related restrictions influence citizens’ support for climate change policies.
You can reach him by mail.
Prof. Dr. Lena Maria Schaffer
Lena Maria Schaffer is Professor (Ordinaria) of International and Transnational Relations at the University of Lucerne (Switzerland).
Her research interests are in the field of international comparative climate and energy policy, as well as attitudinal research on globalisation and climate change.
One focus of her international comparative research is to theoretically and empirically examine the politicisation of climate change and polarisation through climate politics. For example, Lena tries to find out how the issues of climate protection and energy transition affect political parties and party competition in the nation-state, and how possible and actual distributional effects of climate policy instruments change public opinion on climate and social policy
You are welcome to contact her by mail.
Dr. Tevfik Murat Yildirim
Tevfik Murat Yildirim (PhD, University of Missouri) is an associate professor of political science at University of Stavanger, Norway. His research broadly focuses on political elites, social inequalities in day-to-day politics (mostly related to gender), and policy agendas, and has appeared in various journals including American Political Science Review and British Journal of Political Science.
Much of his recent research is concerned with questions relating to the dynamics of elite behavior in parliament and challenges facing women and other traditionally underrepresented groups in politics. One of his recent working papers examines the consequences of politicians’ media visibility for political information seeking among the public in five European countries. Another paper looks at the use of emotive and negative language in parliamentary activities in the British House of Commons.
Feel free to contact him by Mail.