Andreas Meinlschmidt

Research Associate
tel.: +49 30 4220664-47
meinlschmidt@nexusinstitut.de

Andreas Meinlschmidt holds a master’s degree in media and communication studies (M.A. Humboldt University of Berlin, B.A. University of Passau) with a focus on media change and target group-oriented communication practice.

From 2023 to 2025, Andreas Meinlschmidt was programme coordinator for municipal participation at the Open Society Initiative in Berlin, an NGO that promotes social cohesion and democratic participation. In this leadership position, he designed programmes for participation – from the conception of funding applications to the strategic development of projects, coordination with scientific partners, and budget management and control. These projects included, for example, the ‘Bürgerrat Bördehalle’ (North Rhine-Westphalia) in close cooperation with GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. He was also responsible for nationwide training programmes, such as ‘Moment Mal’ for participation officers from various municipalities. Another key project was ‘Mehr Erreichen mit Beteiligung’ (Achieving More with Participation) in collaboration with More in Common – a municipal participation programme to activate hard-to-reach target groups, the so-called ‘invisible third’.

Previously, Andreas Meinlschmidt worked for several years as Head of Communications & Design at the Open Society Initiative. There, his responsibilities included relaunching the branding, managing the social media editorial team and designing online and print publications. At the same time, he was involved in co-managing various nationwide campaign days such as the Open Society Day and Berlin Democracy Day, which aim to promote civic engagement and social participation.

He also designed and moderated numerous workshops on citizen participation at the municipal level and developed concepts for participatory programmes for schoolchildren. Andreas Meinlschmidt is also active as a lecturer and workshop leader on topics related to citizen participation. At re:publica 2024, for example, he gave a presentation on how local participation can be effectively designed to reach beyond the usual target groups. At the Creative Bureaucracy conferences in 2023 and 2024, he provided practical tips for participation processes.

He combines strategic planning with practical implementation and knows how to design participatory processes in a methodical manner and tailor them to different target groups. His work promotes democratic participation at both the local and international levels.

At the nexus Institute, Andreas Meinlschmidt has been running the European Citizens’ Panel on Preparedness in Berlin and Brussels since 2026. The focus here is on promoting crisis preparedness in the European Union, with 150 citizens from all EU Member States coming together to share their ideas with the European Commission.

Publications

Meinlschmidt, Andreas; et al.: “Kompromiss, Vertrauen, Fairness. – Demokratie-Upgrade Bürgerrat?” Herausgegeben von Initiative Offene Gesellschaft e.V. In Kooperation mit GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Gefördert von der VolkswagenStiftung. Berlin und Köln, 2025.

Meinlschmidt, Andreas; et al.: “Mehr Erreichen. Mit Beteiligung. – Ein Arbeitsbuch für kommunale Beteiligung mit neuen Zielgruppen”. Herausgegeben von Initiative Offene Gesellschaft e.V. & More in Common e.V. Gefördert u.a. durch die Robert Bosch Stiftung. Berlin, 2023.

Diverse Aktions- und Bildungs-Boxen der Initiative Offene Gesellschaft, u.a. die Ideen-Box für Workshops (2022), Dialog-Box für den “Tag der Offenen Gesellschaft” (2020-22) und die Demokratie-Box für den “Berliner Demokratietag” (2020-21).