We’re hiring! Our colleague associate professor Lise Jans, together with associate professor Namkje Koudenburg, are inviting applications for a postdoctoral researcher position.
This new position is part of the project “Speak Up!”, funded by the European Regional Development Fund: Interreg North Sea.
Participation panels enable citizens to participate in important decision making (e.g. about environmental policies). Key to having fair and effective public participation panels (in participative democracies), is the inclusion of a representative sample of the diverse population. This includes diversity in demographic (e.g. social, ethnic, educational) backgrounds and opinions. But diversity can complicate discussions and threaten the solidarity within discussion groups: There’s a risk of conflict and polarization into different opinion camps, or certain views taking the upper hand while others feel alienated, which may ultimately result in reduced trust in governmental institutions.
In this project we examine how to create a discussion environment in which distinct views are valued, which strengthen, rather than threaten the identification of people with their discussion groups, city, and (local) government.
Photo credit: Photo by Markus Spiske/Pexels
