Research consortium

Research partners are:

  • planpolitik
  • The Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics (IALS) at USI
  • The Department of Education and Learning University of Teacher Education at SUPSI

planpolitik

planpolitik is an agency for interactive political education based in Berlin. The current 15 permanent staff members have extensive experience in educational work and moderation of interactive formats and have successfully conducted a total of around 2,500 events worldwide with approximately 100,000 participants on a wide range of topics, both on-site and online. In the process, they have worked with more than 250 different partner organizations, including political foundations, academies, universities, private and public educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and companies in Germany and abroad. The software they developed, Senaryon, is a digital platform for the development and delivery of digital teaching modules, such as simulation games. It offers a wide range of possibilities to extend digital teaching solutions.


Karina Frank

Karina Frank has been working with planpolitik since 2018. She is responsible for the thematic area of Democracy and Society. In this role, she is responsible for the conception and revision of educational materials and the implementation of events for young people and adults. She also leads negotiation trainings and advanced trainings on interactive methods.


Lars Harzem

Lars Harzem joined planpolitik in October 2013 and is responsible for coordinating the programming of all online offerings. He is also the lead developer of the online platform Senaryon. His area of expertise lies in the field of human-computer interaction and the communication of socio-political content through digital media. So far, he has been involved in the conception and implementation of about 50 simulation game formats on Senaryon.


Simon Raiser

Simon Raiser has been a freelance lecturer and trainer for over 25 years. Since 2005, he has been the founder, co-partner and managing director of planpolitik. He is involved in the conception and implementation of about 50 events and trainings every year. Since 2001, he has also been a lecturer at various universities in Germany and abroad. He has written several articles on simulation games and interactive methods in political education work.

USI IALS

Our partners at USI are Professor Sara Greco and Dr Chiara Jermini from the Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics (IALS). Greco has worked on argumentation of young people and children in educational and family contexts (see for e.g. project “Analyzing children’s implicit argumentation”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, 2015-2019). Greco’s research focuses on argumentative dialogue as an alternative to conflict escalation, both in the context of interpersonal conflicts and in public controversies.


Chiara Jermini

Chiara Jermini works as teacher and post-doc researcher at USI, where in 2021 she obtained a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences with specialization in Argumentation and Discourse. She has a literature and linguistics background: in 2016 she completed her Master degree in Italian Language and Literature at the University of Geneva. Among her research interests are communication in dispute mediation and more in general in conflict resolution and emotions in argumentative discourse.


Sara Greco

Associate professor of argumentation at USI , President of the Swiss Society for Linguistics and chair of the European Conference on Argumentation. Her research focuses on argumentative dialogue as an alternative to conflict, both in contexts of interpersonal communication and in public controversies. Greco leads a research team on these topics at the Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics (IALS) at USI. She has been supervising PhD dissertations and research project, which generated numerous scientific publications.

SUPSI DFA/ASP

The Department of Education and Learning / University of Teacher Education (DFA/ASP) deals with initial and continuing teacher training and for research and development in education and training. Through the publication of educational and scientific resources and the organisation of events and other dissemination activities, it contributes to the cultural and social life of society.


Marco Lupatini

A Senior Research Lecturer in Geography Didactics at DFA/ASP, his research focuses on the role of geography teaching in citizenship and democracy education, especially as it relates to bringing critical thinking skills into play through the introduction of controversies into learning/teaching activities.


Andrea Plata

Lecturer and researcher at the Competence Centre for Innovation and Research on Education Systems of the DFA/ASP. He works mainly on democracy and citizenship education, promoting and participating in research and training projects on the subject. He is involved in the evaluation of education systems and educational reforms.