University of Stuttgart

The University of Stuttgart is one of the leading technically oriented universities in Germany with global significance. It sees itself as a centre of university-based, non-university, and industrial research. Furthermore, it takes a role as a guarantor of research-based teaching, focused on quality and holism. The Stuttgart Way means an interdisciplinary integration of engineering, natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences based on the fundamentals of cutting-edge research at a disciplinary level. In 2019, two Clusters of Excellence, for which the university has applied for a grant as part of the excellence strategy to strengthen top-level research in Germany, have been awarded funding for seven years. The Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Stuttgart has a long tradition of focusing on innovative forms of participation and democracy. A core research area of the Institute concerns the theoretical and empirical exploration and analysis of 21st century democracy, representation and deliberation, as well as civic participation and dialogue.

These activities are enhanced via ZIRIUS, a Stuttgart research center for interdisciplinary risk and innovation studies. At ZIRIUS, scholars from various disciplines, such as sociology, political science, psychology, economics or engineering, conduct research in the field of science, technology, and democratic governance. Within ZIRIUS, André Bächtiger (co-director of the research centre) has founded the ZIRIUS Participation and Deliberation Lab which provides a platform for innovative experimental and observational research on deliberation and citizen participation. The Lab conducts novel types of lab and survey experiments, by applying advanced research designs to understand deliberation and participation, by employing and developing novel tools to stimulate deliberative activities and by measuring the quality of deliberation in automated ways. Moreover, the Lab also consults researchers and practitioners how to run deliberative and participatory events effectively and how to evaluate their performance and their outcomes.