NADJA BRAUN BINDER
Zurich (Switzerland)
Nadja Braun Binder is a legal scholar. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Berne in 2005. In 2017 she qualified as a university lecturer at the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer.
From 2001 to 2011 she worked at the Swiss Federal Chancellery as a jurist in the Section of Political Rights, as a project leader for the e-voting project and as head of the Legal Section. Afterwards, she worked as a Researcher at the German Research Institute for Public Administration.
Since September 2017 she is Assistant Professor at the University of Zurich and at the Center for Democracy Studies Aarau, respectively.
WILFRIED MARXER
Triesen (Liechtenstein)
Wilfried Marxer, political scientist, studied in Munich and Berlin and did his PhD at the University of Zurich. He was director and head of the department of political science at the Liechtenstein Institute, an academic research institute in Bendern/Liechtenstein. One of his key research fields was direct democracy.
He has published numerous articles and book chapters and he has also conducted surveys and organized conferences on this topic. He is co-editor of the book series “Direct Democracy in Modern Europe” at VS Springer.
THEO SCHILLER
Marburg (Germany)
Theo Schiller taught as a professor of political science at the Philipps-University Marburg/Germany from 1974 until his retirement in 2007. In the mid-1990s he established the research institute on civic participation and direct democracy and started a data bank on initiatives and referendums in German municipalities. He is a member of the“Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe” and of the advisory council of “More Democracy” in Germany. His publications have a special focus on comparative studies of theory and practice of direct democracy.
ANNE MARIE SIGMUND
Vienna (Austria)
The former president of the European Economic and Social Committee was a member of the European Constitutional Convention. There she was among the initiators and supporters of the European Citizens´ Initiative, the first transnational tool of participatory and direct democracy.
She represents the Swiss Democracy Foundation in Austria and has a special interest in civic projects directed to children.
HANS-URS WILI
Aarberg (Switzerland)
Hans-Urs Wili is a lawyer who worked for the Swiss Chancelleror’s Office for more than 40 years being charged with citizens‘ political rights. In 1996 he was involved in the elections in Bosnia Herzegovina and Mostar. He provided his expertise at parliamentary hearings on constitutional reform on citzens rights in Switzerland in 1998 and in Germany in 2002.
Since 1990 he cooperates in private capacity with the South American think tank Instituto Libertad y Democracia.
LUCAS LEEMANN
Zurich (Switzerland)
As Associate Professor of Comparative Politics with a focus on empirical democracy research at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich and Co-PI of the Digital Democracy Lab, he conducts research on democratic institutions, representation, and data science, in particular machine learning and survey methods.
His current research focuses on political participation, with a particular emphasis on the participation of young voters.