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European Commission awards prestigious ERC Advanced Grant to Stefaan Walgrave


Why do politicians (fail to) listen to public opinion?

In a democracy, politicians should always take public opinion into account. In actual practice, however, this only happens selectively. Prof. Stefaan Walgrave (UAntwerp) plans to conduct a large European research project to map the process.

Every year, the European Commission allocates large budgets to scientific research. One way of doing this is by awarding grants to researchers at different stages of their careers, through the European Research Council (ERC). There are also Advanced Grants, which are reserved for established research leaders. 

Second Advanced Grant

Several University of Antwerp researchers have received ERC grants in recent years. Stefaan Walgrave, a professor of political sciences, has now received an ERC Advanced Grant for the second time. 'Being awarded an ERC grant twice is very special, let alone in the Advanced Grants segment', says Kristof Geeraerts, who works in UAntwerp’s Research Department. 'This is a testament to Professor Walgrave's expertise and groundbreaking work in his field of study.'

In his new research project, Stefaan Walgrave will focus on how politicians deal with public opinion. 'A democracy presupposes that policymakers respond to what the general population cares about', he explains. 'However, previous research has shown that the link between what people want and the policies they get is selective. Responsiveness varies greatly depending on the issue, public preference, the country and the time.

Fragmented response

Stefaan Walgrave wants to find out why politicians’ response to public opinion is so fragmented. In order to do this, he will be conducting a large-scale comparative study in eight countries with diverse electoral and party systems: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Israel, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.

Walgrave: 'The project aims to examine how politicians appraise public opinion. For instance, do politicians think that people have carefully thought-out opinions, or that their opinions are mostly driven by self-interest? By examining how politicians assess public opinion – be it positively or negatively – and how that assessment ultimately affects their actions and policies, this research may lead to a shift in the way people think about democratic representation.'

The research project was named POLEVPOP, which is short for 'How politicians evaluate public opinion'. Over a period of five years, the European Research Council will provide funding to the tune of 2.5 million euros.

Kenza Lamot received the outstanding dissertation award at ICA

Amazing news! Kenza Lamot wins the outstanding dissertation award from the Journalism Division at ICA for her great work on the uses and effects of audience analytics in journalism. Well deserved.

Willem Buyens wins best article of a junior author in the Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap

Wonderful news at the Etmaal 2022: our PhD researcher Willem Buyens won the "Best article of a junior author in the Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap" (co-authored by Peter Van Aelst)

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