Schader Stiftung

Verbundene Welten: Wie Netzwerke Forschung, Gesellschaft und Demokratie prägen

The event invites participants to analyze these developments from interdisciplinary perspectives, reflect on them critically, and discuss them with an eye toward the future.

The city of Frankfurt am Main and the Rhine-Main region have been selected as the World Design Capital for 2026. In light of this, the congress will also feature presentations on this year’s thematic focus: “Design for Democracy. Atmospheres for a Better Life.” Special presentations and sessions on this underlying theme are planned, with a particular focus on discussing the role of networks in democracies.

Against this backdrop, the following questions arise:

• What insights can network research offer for a deeper understanding of democratic processes?
• How do networks shape governmental and civil society structures?
• What roles do academia, society, and politics play in stabilizing democracies?
• Which networks work against democratic institutions and governments, and how do they function?
• How are coordination and participation processes structured within organizations?
• Which theoretical approaches can serve as a foundation here?
• How can newer methodological approaches support research into participatory processes?
• What insights does network research offer for political practice?

The conference aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for discussion on network research. Network research examines relationship structures and their impact on social phenomena in a wide variety of contexts. Accordingly, contributions from basic research and practice that go beyond the main theme are also warmly welcome.

Since 1988, the Schader Foundation has been promoting dialogue between the social sciences and practice. Through its own projects, it creates spaces in which science, politics, business and civil society can work together to find answers to current challenges.