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)30 31805481
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 Associate
Dr. Katja Aue
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
aue@nexusinstitut.de
Nicolas Bach
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41827539
bach@nexusinstitut.de
Eike Biermann
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
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)30 31805463
bottel@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Carina Brumme
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
brumme@nexusinstitut.de
Nele Buchholz
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637761
buchholz@nexusinstitut.de
Fabian Dantscher
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
dantscher@nexusinstitut.de
Ansgar Düben
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805470
dueben@nexusinstitut.de
Katharina Fender
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 41637653
fender@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Arnd Hofmeister
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
hofmeister@nexusinstitut.de
Maria Jacob
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 42986329
jacob@nexusinstitut.de
Dr. Robin Kellermann
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
kellermann@nexusinstitut.de
Justine Kenzler
Research Associate
Tel.: +49 (0)176 42987959
kenzler@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
Volkan Sayman
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
sayman@nexusinstitut.de
Raphael Schlattmann
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
schlattmann@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
Dr. Barbara Wagner
Research Associate
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
barbara.wagner@nexusinstitut.de
v
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)30 31805463
jurischka@nexusinstitut.de
Christian Kusch
Project Administration and Controlling
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805476
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)30 31805463
steinhoff@nexusinstitut.de
Amy Winkler
Project Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
winkler@nexusinstitut.de
Student Assistants, Volunteers
Luisa Albrecht
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
luisa.albrecht@nexusinstitut.de
Claudio Altenhain
Participant in the volunteer ecological year
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
altenhain@nexusinstitut.de
Madlen Aßmann
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
madlen.assmann@nexusinstitut.de
Yuri Ferenczy
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
ferenczy@nexusinstitut.de
Isabel Förster
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
isabel.foerster@nexusinstitut.de
Rebecca Gürtler
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
guertler@nexusinstitut.de
Antonios Hazim
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
hazim@nexusinstitut.de
Katharina Höttemann
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
hoettemann@nexusinstitut.de
Jules Junge
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
jules.junge@nexusinstitut.de
Moritz Otto
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
moritz.otto@nexusinstitut.de
Janne Ratschinski
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
ratschinski@nexusinstitut.de
Lina Sauer
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
lina.sauer@nexusinstitut.de
Anouk Schier
Student Assistant
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
schier@nexusinstitut.de
Felix Schürhoff
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
schuerhoff@nexusinstitut.de
Sara Spies
Participant in the volunteer ecological year
Tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
sara.spies@nexusinstitut.de
Luana Thor
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
thor@nexusinstitut.de
Lola Vortmeyer
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
vortmeyer@nexusinstitut.de
Owen Wooden
Student Assistant
tel.: +49 (0)30 31805463
wooden@nexusinstitut.de
Scientific Advisory Board
Elke Benning-Rohnke
Managing Partner of the management consultancy Benning&Company, Frankfurt/Munich
Prof. Dr. Meinolf Dierkes
(Chair from 06/2004 – 04/2011)
Social Science Research Center Berlin
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
Chairperson
ICCR Foundation non-profit private foundation
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ortwin Renn
Professor of Technical and Environmental Sociology at the University of Stuttgart Managing Director of DIALOGIK gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Kooperationsforschung mbH
Dr. Nikolas Vortmeyer
Independent management consultant
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 journalInnovation: 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.