DIID members who no longer belong to HHU-Düsseldorf can be granted alumni status by board resolution. The alumni continue to be associated with DIID and now work elsewhere on the topic of the Internet and democracy. Here you can find all DIID alumni from the different disciplines as well as people who once worked at DIID.
Computer Science
Prof. Dr. Dorothea Baumeister
Prof. Dr. Dorothea Baumeister is Professor of Computer Science at the Federal University of Applied Sciences in Brühl. Until January 2023, she was Junior Professor of Computational Social Choice at HHU-Düsseldorf and a member of DIID. She was also part of the NRW Forschungskolleg Online Participation. You can find her personal website here.
Dr.-Ing. Kálmán Graffi
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kálmán Graffi is Professor of Networks, Communication Systems and Cybersecurity at TH Bingen. Previously, he was Principal Scientist at Honda Research Institute Europe. From 2012 to 2019, he was a DIID member and Junior Professor at the Institute of Computer Science at HHU-Düsseldorf. Kálmán Graffi’s personal website can be found here.
Dr. Christian Meter
Dr. Christian Meter founded the company “schnaq GmbH” with Dr. Alexander Schneider and Michael Birkhoff. He did research and a doctorate in computer science at HHU-Düsseldorf on the topics of online discussions and participation. You can find out more about Christian Meter’s work here.
Julia Romberg
Julia Romberg has been a postdoc at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences since December 2023. From July 2016 to November 2023 she was a research assistant and doctoral student at HHU-Düsseldorf. You can find more information about her work here.
Dr. Alexander Schneider
Dr. Alexander Schneider has been managing director and founder of schnaq GmbH since 2021. In 2020, he completed his PhD in computer science with the topic “Untangling Internet Debate – Decentralization and Reuse of Arguments for Online Discussion Software.” Learn more here.
Communication Science
Pero Došenović
Pero Došenović has been working as a management consultant at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies since 2023. Previously, he was a research assistant at HHU-Düsseldorf at the Chair of Communication and Media Studies I. You can learn more about his work here.
Dr. Katharina Esau
Dr. Katharina Esau has been a postdoc at the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane/Australia) since 2022. She completed her PhD at HHU-Düsseldorf on the topic of “Forms of Communication and Deliberation Dynamics”. Learn more here.
Dominique Heinbach
Dominique Heinbach has been a research associate in the “General Communication Research” department at the Institute of Journalism at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since April 2023. Previously, she was a research associate at HHU-Düsseldorf. Learn more here.
Kimon Kieslich
Kimon Kieslich, M. A., is a research associate at the University of Amsterdam. Previously, he was a research assistant at the Chair of Communication and Media Studies I at HHU-Düsseldorf. More information about his work can be found here.
PD Dr. Merja Mahrt
Dr. Merja Mahrt is a research synthesis officer at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, where she conducts research on the effects of digitalization on individuals and society. She habilitated at the HHU-Düsseldorf. Learn more here.
Christopher Niederelz
Christopher Niederelz is a former member of the NRW Research College Online Participation and is finishing his dissertation on the role of group actors in online citizen:participation. You can find his personal website here.
Dr. Christopher Starke
Dr. Christopher Starke leads the two externally funded projects “Discourse Data for Policy” and “Responsible Academic Performance Prediction” together with colleagues from HHU-Düsseldorf. In his research, he investigates the impact of artificial intelligence on democracy. Find more information here.
Anke Stoll
Anke Stoll has been a research associate at Ilmenau University of Technology in the Computational Communication Science department since April 2023. From July 2018 to March 2023, she was a research assistant and doctoral student at HHU-Düsseldorf. More information about her work can be found here.
Christina Viehmann
Dr. Christina Viehmann Senior Researcher in Computational Social Science at GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, where she continues her research on the political consequences of public communication in digital media environments. Previously, she held the position of Professor of Communication and Media Studies IV at HHU-Düsseldorf.
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Vowe
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Vowe was Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the Institute of Social Sciences at HHU Düsseldorf from 2004 to 2019 and Senior Professor until 2023.
Political Science
Maria Becker
Maria Becker was a research assistant at the Hochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung NRW (HSPV NRW) in Cologne. She was a fellow of the NRW Research College Online Participation and participated in the second funding phase of the college. Learn more here.
Andreas Braun
Andreas Braun was a research assistant at the Chair of Political Science II at HHU-Düsseldorf and a fellow of the second funding phase of the NRW Research College Online Participation. He studied political science at the University of Duisburg-Essen (B.A.) and at the WWU Münster (M.A.). More information can be found here.
Dr. Mario Datts
Dr. Mario Datts has been working at the DLR Project Management Agency since 2022, where his responsibilities include automation processes and empirical analyses in the field of research funding. He cooperated with DIID to study local e-democracy in Germany. Find more information here.
Dr. Lena Masch
Dr. Lena Masch is a research associate at the Otto Suhr Institute of the Free University of Berlin. Previously, she worked as a research assistant at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and from 2017 to 2021 at the HHU-Düsseldorf, among others as Akademische Rätin a.Z. at the Chair of Political Science II. You can read more about her work here.
Prof Dr. Katrin Möltgen-Sicking
Prof. Dr. Katrin Möltgen-Sicking teaches political science, sociology and intercultural competence at the University for Police and Public Administration NRW (HSPV). She was part of the NRW Forschungskolleg Online Partizipation, which ended in March 2023. Her personal website can be found here.
Dr. Nicole Najemnik
Dr. Nicole Najemnik has been working as an IT consultant since April 2021. Previously, she was a research assistant at the Hochschule für Polizei und Verwaltung (HSPV NRW) in Cologne and a doctoral candidate in the NRW Forschungskolleg Online-Partizipation. Learn more here.
Dr. L. Constantin Wurthmann
Dr. L. Constantin Wurthmann is a postdoc at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. Previously, he was a research assistant at the Chair of Political Science II at HHU-Düsseldorf. You can find his personal website here.
Law
Prof. Dr. Frank Bätge
Prof. Dr. Frank Bätge is a university lecturer at the University for Police and Public Administration NRW (HSPV). He was part of the NRW Forschungskolleg Online Partizipation, which ended in March 2023. You can read more about his work here.
Prof. Dr. Harald Hofmann
Prof. Dr. Harald Hofmann taught and conducted research at the University for Police and Public Administration NRW (HSPV) from 1991 to 2023. Among other things, he worked on a research project on “administrative decision-making” and “civic participation” in China and Germany. His personal website can be found here.
Prof. Dr. Martin Morlok
Prof. Dr. Martin Morlok held the Chair of Public Law, Legal Theory and Sociology of Law at the HHU-Düsseldorf from 2002 to 2018. From 1997 to 2011 he was director of the Institute for German and International Party Law and Party Research . He has been retired since 2018. Learn more here.
Dr. Thomas Weiler
Dr. Thomas Weiler, ass.iur., is a research associate at the University for Police and Public Administration NRW (HSPV). He was part of the NRW Forschungskolleg Online Partizipation , which ended in March 2023. Learn more here.
Sociology
Marco Wähner
Marco Wähner is a research assistant at the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) in Bochum, Germany. In 2019, he started his PhD at the NRW Forschungskolleg Online-Partizipation and was a research assistant at the Chair of Sociology 2 at the HHU in Düsseldorf.
Dr. Stefanie Lütters
Dr. Stefanie Lütters was a research associate at the DIID at HHU-Düsseldorf until 2023. As part of her dissertation in sociology, she studied the influence of social networks on political participation in contrasting social spaces.
Team
Elena Orths
Elena Orths worked as a student assistant in the DIID core team from March 2021 to March 2022. She is studying history and German language and literature at Heinrich Heine University. In the meantime, she is an alumni of the DIID.
Dr. Bastian Rottinghaus
Bastian Rottinghaus was employed as a research assistant at DIID between October 2016 and December 2019. And was employed as a research assistant at the Chair of Sociology II at HHU-Düsseldorf from 2010 to 2015. More about his work can be found here.
Cornelia Schoenwald
Cornelia Schoenwald was a clerk at DIID, as well as a secretary at the chairs of Sociology I and II and worked for the internship office of HHU-Düsseldorf. She has a degree in industrial business administration.
Jonathan Seim
Jonathan Seim has been a project member of the Citizen Participation and Civic Engagement team at the City of Wuppertal since January 2024. He is particularly involved in the research project “KoodiKo” (“Cooperative digital municipality through innovative communication and interaction strategies”). Previously, as part of the DIID core team, he was involved in the implementation of online participation processes and at CAIS. He completed his doctorate in philosophy on questions of inclusion in the context of citizen participation procedures in October 2023. Find out more here.
Jacqueline Sengelhoff
Jacqueline Sengelhoff was part of the DIID core team from July 2019 to July 2020. Her duties included writing the monthly newsletter and updating the DIID website. She graduated in the summer of 2020 with a degree in English/American Studies and Political Science.
Dr. Malte Steinbach
Dr. Malte Steinbach has been a project manager at DIID cooperation partner Zebralog in Bonn since 2020. Previously, he was employed as a scientific coordinator at DIID. He wrote his dissertation within the framework of the NRW Progress College Online Participation. More information can be found here.
Dr. Anna Soßdorf
Dr. Anna Soßdorf worked as a research associate at the Institute for Social Sciences at HHU-Düsseldorf and as a coordinator at DIID in teaching and research from 2019 to 2022. Her personal website can be found here.
Nils Wiesel
Nils Wiesel was a student assistant at DIID from January 2020 to January 2022. He is studying Social Sciences in the Master’s program at the HHU. He completed his bachelor’s degree at HHU-Düsseldorf in history and political science.
Mathis Zens
Mathis Zens was a student assistant at DIID from January 2022 to July 2023. He studies Philosophy, Politics & Economics at the HHU-Düsseldorf. As a member of the core team, he was responsible for internal and organizational tasks.