Research Projects
My research is developed through collaborative and externally funded projects spanning democratic innovation, political behaviour, collective reasoning, and artificial intelligence.
Ongoing Projects
Human–Machine Interaction for Democracy (HMI4D)
2026–2028
Role: Co-Investigator
Funding: Hasler Foundation & Mercator Foundation
Total funding: CHF 591,000
HMI4D investigates how interactions between humans and artificial intelligence can be designed to support democratic communication and collective reasoning. The project examines the opportunities and risks of integrating AI systems into deliberative and participatory democratic processes.
AI4DELIBERATION
2024–2027
Role: Work Package Leader for the Swiss contribution
Funding: Horizon Europe — CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-07
Consortium funding: approximately €3 million
Swiss component: approximately €407,000
AI4DELIBERATION examines how artificial intelligence can support large-scale, digitally mediated democratic deliberation. My work focuses particularly on the design and evaluation of AI-supported deliberative processes and the integration of AI into institutionalised democratic participation.
Swiss Citizens’ Assembly
2022–2026
Role: Senior Research Fellow / Researcher
Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) — BRIDGE
Total funding: CHF 1.2 million
The project studies a national-level citizens’ assembly as a democratic innovation combining sortition, deliberation, and participatory democracy. My research focuses on deliberative reasoning, political judgement, institutional design, and the effects of minipublic participation.
The project is conducted with researchers at the University of Zurich and the University of Geneva.
Selected Completed Projects
Triage Against the Machine: Can AI Reason Deliberatively?
2025
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) — SPARK Grant
Funding: CHF 94,100
This project investigated whether large language models can reproduce forms of deliberative reasoning observed among humans.
It develops a human-grounded approach to evaluating AI reasoning by benchmarking LLM outputs against empirical evidence from human deliberation.
Strengthening Democracy by Mobilizing Knowledge of Democratic Innovations
2021–2026
Role: Principal Co-Investigator
Funding: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Total funding: CAD 2,499,895
This international project examines how knowledge about democratic innovations can be mobilized to strengthen democratic institutions and practices.
Assessing Deliberation in the Real World
2021–2022
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) — Postdoc Mobility
Funding: CHF 144,275
This project developed a systematic comparative approach to studying deliberative reasoning across real-world deliberative processes.
Gender and Immigrant-Origin Minorities in Deliberative Minipublics
2022–2025
Role: Postdoctoral Researcher
Funding: University of Geneva
Total funding: CHF 651,880
The project examined inclusion and participation in deliberative minipublics, with a particular focus on gender and immigrant-origin minorities.
A Meta-Study of Democratic Deliberation: Advancing Theory and Practice
2018–2021
Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Funding: Australian Research Council (ARC) — DP180103014
Total funding: AUD 536,411
This project developed comparative approaches for identifying the institutional and contextual conditions under which deliberation produces desirable democratic outcomes.
Australian Citizens’ Jury on Genome Editing
2020–2023
Role: Collaborator
Funding: Australian Research Council (ARC) — LP190101198
Total funding: AUD 439,000
The project investigated how citizens reason about the ethical and political challenges created by human genome editing through a national deliberative process in Australia.