Two research projects were presented by external speakers during the colloquium. Aaron Martin (LMU / University of Chicago) presented his current research project about "Party Group and Party System Institutionalization in the EP". Karina Mross (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, Bonn) presented her study on the topic "Democracy support and peaceful democratization after civil wars". During the colloquium we were able to welcome colleagues from the Universities of Munich, Bamberg, and Regensburg.