Guest Researchers

Rasine Ravelo Mendez

I am excited to be a visiting doctoral student at the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz between October and November 2023 under the mentorship of Eva Thomann.

I am an economist from the Magdalena University, Colombia, and a regional urban planning and development specialist from the University of the North, Colombia with a master’s degree in government and public policy from the Externado de Colombia University. I’m a doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Development Studies at the Andes University - Colombia. My research interests include public policies, institutions, governance, planning, and territorial competitiveness.

I am working on my doctoral thesis, entitled “Institutions, Institutional Design and Modes of Governance: A Comparative Study in Fragile Subnational Governments in Colombia, South America.” My research internship in Konstanz focuses on my second paper, “Collaborative Governance and Policy Implementation in Subnational Governments”. I will be using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) as a method for social research, where the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz has a lot of experience.I will be presenting my research project in the bi-weekly “Management and Public Administration (MAPA)" Colloquium on the 2nd November 2023. During my time at the University of Konstanz, we will also expand academic work networks between Latin American and European universities in search of mutual benefits, such as mobility, projects, and joint publications.

I look forward to building relationships, synergies, and significant academic spaces.

Fatih Çelik

Being a part of the Universität Konstanz’s Department of Politics and Public Administration as a visiting lecturer, during the three months of July to October of 2023 was very valuable for me. I appreciated to work in an international environment and I loved the library of the University which provided top sources for research. During this time, I have taught the lecture “Comparative Politics” in the summer semester 2023. It was an excellent experience and a pleasure to engage with the international students at this great university.

I am a research assistant in Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Institute of Graduate Studies, Political Science and Public Administration Department. In addition to that I have been a vice editor of the Institute’s journal, Academy Social Science Journal (ASBİDER), for three years.

I hold a bachelor’s degree in public administration in Anadolu University and master’s degree from Hacettepe University, Public Administration Program, thesis titled “Politics-Bureaucracy Relations: Theoretical and Current Debates.” I received my Ph.D. from Gazi University, Public Administration Program, thesis titled "The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Migration Administration in Türkiye.” My research mainly focusses on comparative politics, bureaucracy, state theory, public policy, non-governmental organizations, and migration studies.

Firstly, I would like to thank Professor Eva Thomann for her invitation letter. Also, I would like to thank Herr Palz, Frau Richter, and Frau Hummel for their warm welcome and their fruitful collaboration during my visiting time.

Duration of the stay: July-October 2023

Jana Gómez Díaz

I am thrilled to join Universität Konstanz’s Department of Politics and Public Administration as a visiting researcher, during the months of February and March of 2023. During this stay, I intend to expand my skills by participating in a KOMEX workshop and to enjoy the opportunity to receive mentoring and inspiration from my colleagues at the department. All whilst continuing my own research projects.

I am a pre-doctoral researcher at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). I am linked to a research project funded by EU Horizon 2020, titled ‘Trust in Governance and Regulation in Europe’ (TiGRE). I am also currently pursuing a PhD in Political and Social Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra under the supervision of Ixchel Pérez-Durán and Jacint Jordana. My main research interests are European integration, multi-level governance, and regulation. Specifically, my dissertation aims to understand trust dynamics in public policy-making. It aims to uncover the role that specialized agencies play in the formation of trust in actors of the regulatory regime.

I have published my work in top-ranked journals such as the Journal of European Public Policy, as well as in European Political Science.

Previously, I worked as a policy advisor and researcher at the German Parliament in Berlin, where I gained valuable insights into the practical functioning of the regulatory regime and its policy-making process. I hold a bachelor’s degree in European Studies Major from Universität Passau; a Research Master’s in Political Science from Universitat Pompeu Fabra; and a Master’s in Politics and Public Administration (with a specialization in International Relations and European Integration) from Universität Konstanz.

Duration of the stay: February - March 2023

Irene Landini

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the School of International Studies, at the University of Trento. I did my PhD at Luiss Guido Carli University, I submitted my PhD thesis in November 2021, and I am currently waiting for defending it. During my PhD and post-doc, I performed several activities as teaching and research assistant too. Thanks to my previous professional experience, I had the chance to conduct research on these issues also outside the academia, while working in the non-profit sector as evaluation and monitoring assistant.

I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Trento, a Master’s Degree from the University of Padova and a Second-level University Master’s in EU Project Management from the University of Venice.

My core research interests include (but are not limited to) Social Policy, Social and Health Equity, Migration studies, Welfare Development and Human Rights protection and implementation.

Duration of the stay: April-September 2022

Professor David Levi-Faur, Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

From the 11. – 17.07.2022 Professor David Levi-Faur has joined the department of Politics and Public Administration at the University Konstanz as a visiting researcher via the Erasmus programme. David Levi-Faur said:
“I am very much looking forward to exchanging ideas with and learning from the colleagues in the chair of Public Administration and the whole department during my stay in Konstanz!”

David Levi-Faur is Professor at the Department of Political Science and the Federmann School of Public Policy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Furthermore, he held research, teaching and visiting positions at different Universities worldwide, like for example in Israel, the UK, the USA and Australia. Beyond this David Levi-Faur is a founding editor of Regulation & Governance, a top journal that serves as the leading platform for the study of regulation and governance in the social sciences.

The work of Prof. Levi-Faur deals with the trends, purposes and dilemmas of governance in the 21st century. It includes editing three special issues of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences and Governance (Varieties of Regulatory Capitalism). He is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Governance (OUP, 2012) and The Handbook of the Politics of Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2011). He is currently working on the Regulation of Emerging Technologies, specifically on the regulating implications of Big Financial Data and the social innovations potential of the use of big financial data for welfare governance

Federica Marconi

I’m a Ph.D. student in “Theory of Contracts, Services and Markets” at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Here I have been building my scientific background for the last two years. Moreover, I have been performing a variety of teaching activities (Courses of Public Law of the Economy; European Institutions, Law and Markets; European-Financial Institutions), as well as research assistance and collaboration at the Law and Management Department.

I hold a Law Degree (110/110 cum laude) from the same University and a Second-level University Master’s in Administrative Law (110/110 cum laude) from LUISS University in Rome.

My core research interests and Ph.D. study include (but are not limited to) theory of public administration and policy implementation, public procurement, anti-corruption, public companies, independent Authorities and public accountability, and supervision on financial markets.

My research topic is about the interconnections between public procurement and the risk of corruption during times of emergency. The disruptive effects of the pandemic phenomenon have severely tested the relationship of collaboration between public and private entities. The project aims at investigating the issues of transparency and accountability in public tenders, considering the lively debate on how to balance the need for speeding up the awarding procedures and for fighting the risk of abuse and corruption, comparing the Italian system with the German one.

What is the incidence of corruptive phenomena in public tenders awarded with exceptional procedures? What is the link between corruption and increased flexibility of procedures? What are the consequences of increasing the discretion of contracting authorities? The question is of essential relevance in global perspective, given the significant number of Countries with membership in the European Union, sharing European regulations and institutional framework, but also the irrelevance of political borders facing global phenomena.

The  project aims at: analyzing the “ordinary” national rules on public procurement and how they have been impacted by the measures that have followed to deal with the Covid-19 emergency; adopting a comparison perspective on national legal systems that highlights asymmetries and points of contact, taking into account the specificities and domestic peculiarities; examining the issue of the compatibility of domestic regulations with EU constraints, especially in the light of the necessary harmonization imposed by the EU framework and the joint effort in the fight against corruption; questioning the relationship between emergency procedures and corruption in public procurement, considering that the pandemic emergency is still ongoing; analyzing the implications in terms of economic costs, as well as the risk of infiltration by criminal organizations into the legal economy.

Corruption thrives during times of crisis, particularly when institutions and oversight are weak, and public trust is low. In this light, it is essential to understand the different national declinations of the preventive and repressive measures against corruption in the field of public procurement.