Our Scientific Advisory Board

Isabelle Borucki (August 22, 1981, in Friedrichshafen) is a German political scientist and has been a professor at Philipps University Marburg since 2022. She studied political science, philosophy, and sociology in Würzburg, as well as in Edinburgh and London. Prior to her appointment, she worked at the NRW School of Governance at the University of Duisburg-Essen and held an interim professorship at the University of Siegen.

From 2008 to 2018, Borucki worked as a research associate at the University of Trier, where she focused on the perception of poverty and the mediatization of government communication. In 2021, she completed her habilitation in political science. She leads the research group "DIPART – Digital Party Research" and is the spokesperson for the Politics and Communication Working Group of the German Association for Political Science (DVPW)

Her research focuses on the digital transformation of political processes, political communication, and e-participation. Borucki has authored numerous publications on these topics, including "Democracy Theory in the Age of Early Digitalization" and "The Internet and the State: Perspectives on a Complicated Relationship."

Prof. Dr. Alexia Katsanidou has been a professor of empirical social sciences at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of Cologne since June 2018 and serves as the scientific director of the Data Archive for the Social Sciences at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. Previously, she worked as a team leader and interim director at GESIS and completed research stays at the European University Institute and the University of Southampton.

Katsanidou completed her PhD in 2008 at the University of Essex in the field of electoral research and political ideology. Her research focuses on political attitudes, political representation in the EU, voting behavior, radicalization, and research data management. She is known for her work on the European debt crisis and its impact on political spaces in Europe, particularly in Greece.

Her publications include contributions in renowned academic journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies and European Union Politics, where she explores topics such as European integration and political radicalization.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Nicklas has held the TAO Chair of Computer Science, specializing in mobile software systems and mobility, at the University of Bamberg since April 1, 2014. She earned her PhD in 2005 at the University of Stuttgart in the field of the Collaborative Research Center "Nexus – Context Models for Mobile Context-Aware Systems." After a postdoctoral phase in Stuttgart, she took up a junior professorship in database and internet technologies at the University of Oldenburg, where she also conducted research at the affiliated institute OFFIS, particularly in the fields of automotive and maritime information systems.

Her research focus is on data management for mobile and sensor-based applications, as explored and further developed in the Living Lab Bamberg, a testing ground for smart city applications. She co-leads the Smart City Research Lab at the University of Bamberg with Prof. Dr. Marc Redepenning and Prof. Dr. Astrid Schütz. Additionally, she is an elected member of the executive board of the German Informatics Society (GI) and the subject area committee 409 "Informatics" of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

In the summer semester of 2024, Prof. Nicklas is on a research semester, which will affect her teaching activities. In March and April 2024, she visited the Mobile Computing Lab at the University of Osaka at the invitation of Prof. Hirozumi Yamaguchi.

Prof. Dr. Christian Schachtner has been a professor of information systems with a focus on digitalization in public administration at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences since July 2023. Prior to this, he was Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and head of the Smart City division at the City of Kempten. Additionally, from May 2020 to June 2023, he was a professor and program director for Public Management at IU International University. Schachtner has extensive experience in the digital transformation of public administrations, particularly in the areas of process management and agility, which he previously applied as head of the Digital Transformation division at the City of Bamberg.

Sein akademischer Werdegang umfasst ein berufsbegleitendes Promotionsstudium an der Katholischen Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt sowie verschiedene Studienabschlüsse, darunter ein Master in Europäischem Verwaltungsmanagement und ein Bachelor of Law in öffentlichem Recht. Schachtner ist Autor und Herausgeber zahlreicher Publikationen zur Digitalisierung in der Verwaltung, darunter das „Handbuch Digitalisierung der Verwaltung“ und Beiträge zu Themen wie Künstliche Intelligenz und Smart Cities.

He is active in several academic and practical networks, including as a Visiting Fellow at the University for Continuing Education Krems and as a board member of the Legal and Administrative Informatics Group of the German Informatics Society (GI).