Nurturing emerging talents and exceptional ideas is crucial! Therefore, the HfP supports postdocs in their transition from doctoral studies to independent research with seed funding. This year, four projects addressing future topics will receive support:

• Digital Sovereignty in Africa
  Africa is increasingly seen as a continent of opportunity. Independent digitalization could further unlock this potential. But what is the current state of this development? Dr. Florence Dafe, from the Chair of European and Global Governance, aims to shed light on this question through her research.

• Effectiveness of Global Climate Governance
  Efforts to mitigate climate change vary worldwide and yield different levels of success. Dr. Florentine Koppenborg, from the Chair of Environmental and Climate Policy, plans to examine the effectiveness of existing international efforts and mechanisms to address the global climate crisis as part of her project.

• Ad Machina: The Political Economy of Delegating Decisions to AI
  Artificial intelligence has been economically significant long before the advent of chatbots. Increasingly, decision-making authority is being transferred from human actors to AI systems. Dr. Tobias Rommel, from the Chair of International Relations, will closely examine the dynamics, structures, and impacts of this trend in his funded project.

• Improving Measurement of Conspiracy Beliefs and Testing Novel Survey Methods
  Belief in conspiracy narratives is increasingly influential in societal discourse. However, the distrust in existing societal structures also complicates their study. Dr. Jan Zilinsky, from the Chair of Digital Governance, aims to improve the measurement of conspiracy beliefs and test novel survey methods in his project.

The seed funding offers temporary financial support for one calendar year. Academic staff with a completed doctorate (postdocs) and an employment contract at the HfP can apply for the project funding, to finance student assistants, software, travel, events, or invitations for guest scholars.

We congratulate the recipients and look forward to the exciting research outcomes these projects will produce. The projects will be presented at the Faculty Workshop towards the end of the year.