nexus combines practice and research
nexus designs and moderates participative processes: from complex citizen participation projects to multi-stakeholder formats. We design decision-making processes, focusing on transparent communication, active cooperation and sustainable consensus. nexus investigates how active citizenship and the participation of different actors can change social development. Therefore we realize application-oriented and practical research projects. nexus advises actors from politics and administration, develops concepts and strategies and evaluates processes and programmes. We optimise civil society infrastructures and services through individual solutions. Comprehensive needs analyses are the base for this. nexus works inter- and transdisciplinarily, locally, nationally and internationally on the topics of democracy and participation, sustainability, regional development, digitalization and health.
The nexus Institute is located in the “Villa Morgenroth”, one of the most beautiful Houses in Dahlem, built in 1911 for the physician Julius Morgenroth (1871-1924), involved in the development of chemotherapy. The villa with its generous layout, a garden hall with restaurant, bar area and park-like garden offers the right space for diverse discourses.
Our Team
Management
Prof. Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel
Director
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
dienel@nexusinstitut.de
Prof. Dr. Christiane Dienel
Director
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805478
christiane.dienel@nexusinstitut.de
Tzvetina Arsova Netzelmann
Head of Unit Health and Society
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585372
arsova-netzelmann@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Christine von Blanckenburg
Head of Unit Civil Society
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805467
blanckenburg@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Daniel Guagnin
Head of Unit Nets and Society
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41741536
guagnin@nexusinstitut.de
Sabine Schröder
Head of Unit Infrastructure and Society
Tel.: +49 (0)151 59488337
schroeder@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Birgit Böhm
Head of Academy for Participative Methods
Tel.: +49 (0)160 7634979
boehm@nexusinstitut.de
Research Associates
Nicolas Bach
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41827539
bach@nexusinstitut.de
Eike Biermann
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585373
biermann@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Thomas Blanchet
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 40155253
blanchet@nexusinstitut.de
Wiebke Blum
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637852
blum@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Claudia Bosch
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 40137967
bosch@nexusinstitut.de
Matthias Bottel
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585367
bottel@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Carina Brumme
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
brumme@nexusinstitut.de
Ansgar Düben
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585366
dueben@nexusinstitut.de
Gesa Feldhusen
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637761
feldhusen@nexusinstitut.de
Katharina Fender
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637653
fender@nexusinstitut.de
Lena Frey
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
frey@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Arnd Hofmeister
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585360
hofmeister@nexusinstitut.de
Maria Jacob
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 42986329
jacob@nexusinstitut.de
Justine Kenzler
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 42987959
kenzler@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Filipe Mello Rose
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585361
mello.rose@nexusinstitut.de
Ina Metzner
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637793
metzner@nexusinstitut.de
Philipp Offermann
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637817
offermann@nexusinstitut.de
Erik Ooms
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60525362
ooms@nexusinstitut.de
Max Raucamp
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585364
raucamp@nexusinstitut.de
Volkan Sayman
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
sayman@nexusinstitut.de
Martin Schlecht
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
schlecht@nexusinstitut.de
Carlo Thomsen
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41626128
thomsen@nexusinstitut.de
Uta Zetek
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41868272
zetek@nexusinstitut.de
Administration, Communication, Event Management
Antje Heera
Communication and Events
Tel.: +49 (0)151 41383326
heera@nexusinstitut.de
Daniel Jurischka
Project Administration and Controlling
Tel.: +49 (0)155 60585371
jurischka@nexusinstitut.de
Christian Kusch
Project Administration and Controlling
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805476
Mobil: +49 (0)155 60585370
kusch@nexusinstitut.de
Lutta Saifulina
Office Management, Accounting and Staff
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
saifulina@nexusinstitut.de
Sandrine Steinhoff
Graphics, Communication and Events
Tel.: +49 (0)151 59869348
steinhoff@nexusinstitut.de
Student Assistants, Volunteers
Tamia Ali
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
tamia.ali@nexusinstitut.de
Claudio Altenhain
Participant in the Federal Ecological Volunteer Service
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
altenhain@nexusinstitut.de
Alexandra Augustin
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
alexandra.augustin@nexusinstitut.de
Isabel Förster
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
isabel.foerster@nexusinstitut.de
Antonios Hazim
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
hazim@nexusinstitut.de
Jules Junge
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
jules.junge@nexusinstitut.de
Oğulay Kapçak
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
ogulay.kapcak@nexusinstitut.de
Orestis Lüdmann
Trainee
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
orestis.luedmann@nexusinstitut.de
Janne Ratschinski
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
ratschinski@nexusinstitut.de
Nicola Rudow
Participant in the Federal Ecological Volunteer Service
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
nicola.rudow@nexusinstitut.de
Felix Schürhoff
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
schuerhoff@nexusinstitut.de
Paul Schlichting
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
schlichting@nexusinstitut.de
Maria Serrato
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
maria.serrato@nexusinstitut.de
Diellza Shala
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
shala@nexusinstitut.de
Luana Thor
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
thor@nexusinstitut.de
Ayla Tiefenbach
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
tiefenbach@nexusinstitut.de
Emir Torun
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
emir.torun@nexusinstitut.de
Amy Winkler
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
winkler@nexusinstitut.de
Jakob Zielke
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
jakob.zielke@nexusinstitut.de
Scientific Advisory Board
Elke Benning-Rohnke
Board member of FidAR / shareholder of the management consultancy Benning Company
Prof. Dr. Brigitte Geißel
Professor of Political Science at Goethe University Frankfurt, Head of the “Democratic Innovations” research centre
Prof. Dr. Norbert Kersting
Lehrstuhl für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft- Kommunal- und Regionalpolitik der Universität Münster
Claudine Nierth
Spokeswoman for the Federal Executive Board of Mehr Demokratie e. V.
Vigdis Nipperdey
Former Chairwoman of the University Council of the Technical University of Munich
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ronald Pohoryles
(Chair from 10/2016-10/2023) ICCR Foundation non-profit private foundation
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ortwin Renn
Chair, former Scientific Director at the Institute for Transformative Sustainability Research (IASS) and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Technische Universität Berlin
Dr. Nikolas Vortmeyer
Self-employed management consultant
Prof. Dr. Heike Walk
Chair for Transformation Governance at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development
Former members of the Scientific Advisory Board
Sts a.D. Clemens Appel Prof. Dr. Meinolf Dierkes (Vorsitz 2004-2011) Prof. Dr. Dr. Heiner Legewie Prof. Dr. Heinrich Mäding (Vorsitz 2011-2016) Min. a.D. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Steger
Client
Partner
INNOVATION: The European Journal of Social Science Research
Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research is a social science journal on innovation, change and transformation of organisations, institutions and societies. It combines analytical and descriptive approaches with an attempt to discuss solutions, visions, roadmaps as well as threat scenarios and dystopias. This combination of hermeneutic analysis and application of deconstruction and construction are the cornerstones of the journal, which is open to all social and cultural sciences. Since 2017, the nexus Institute has been publishing the renowned English-language scientific journal Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research together with the European Association for the Advancement of the Social Sciences and the publishing house Routledge – Taylor Francis Group.
Planning cells database (Citizens Juries)
Planning cells are a form of citizen’s participation that was developed by Prof. Peter Dienel in the 1970s at the research centre for citizen’s participation at the University of Wuppertal. A similar concept is the idea of the Citizen’s Jury, which was designed in the 1970s by Ned Crosby at the Jefferson Centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both procedures are based on a random selection of participants and are therefore part of the „Mini-public“-formats of participation, representing citizens. This database was created by the nexus institute, which is run by Prof. Hans-Liudger Dienel, the son of Prof. Peter Dienel who developed the German version of the Citizen’s Jury, called a Planning cell (Planungszelle). The database aims to allow anyone interested to gain easier access to information about Citizens Juries conducted so far.