I am Assistant Professor of Political Science at the School of Social Sciences. I hold a joint PhD from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and UCLouvain and previously worked at the University of Stuttgart as a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC-funded project Designing Democracy on Mars and Earth.
My research focuses on two closely related areas that address the grand challenge of democracy. First, I develop a systemic approach to democracy. Situated in democratic theory, this approach conceptualizes democracy not as a set of isolated institutions or a single model of governance, but as a system of interdependent components whose interactions give rise to democratic outcomes. This perspective generates a range of empirical research questions, including how democratic systems diagnose their own strengths and weaknesses, how participatory ecosystems emerge and evolve, and how different democratic institutions can complement one another. Through this work, I seek to better understand the conditions under which democratic systems can learn, adapt, and renew themselves over time.
Building on this systemic perspective, my second research area focuses on democratic innovations, such as citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting, and digital participation. I study both their evaluation and their institutionalization within broader democratic systems. These participatory processes are often expected to generate democratic benefits and influence public decision-making. My work investigates whether and how these impacts occur, develops methodologies to measure them, and explores how we can normatively evaluate these outcomes. I am particularly interested in deliberative mini-publics and the conditions under which they become embedded in existing political institutions. In this context, I examine how municipalities and other public authorities integrate mini-publics into their decision-making processes and monitor the development of mini-publics in Belgium.
Across these research areas, I seek to understand how democratic systems can be designed, evaluated, and renewed in ways that strengthen their capacity to address contemporary societal challenges.