In April 2025, I joined the Department of Social Sciences at Humboldt-University of Berlin, where I currently work as a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer, affiliated with Prof. Hanna Schwander’s Chair of Political Sociology and Social Policy. Since July 2025, I additionally serve as Acting Academic Manager of the Berlin Graduate School of Sciences.
Previously, I completed my PhD in Political Science at the University of Mannheim, graduating magna cum laude under the supervision of Prof. Richard Traunmüller, and have obtained a M.A. in Political Science (Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich) and a B.A. in International Journalism (University of Applied Sciences Bremen).
In my dissertation, I examine the democratic consequences of climate change-related attitudes and concerns. I demonstrate that rising climate concern is causally related to reduced satisfaction with democracy, investigate whether this decline feeds into a reduction of support for democracy, and finally use an original double list experiment to uncover citizens’ willingness to support undemocratic measures in pursuit of their climate political agenda.
Beyond climate change, my research interests more broadly span topics of Political Sociology and Psychology, with a focus on political participation and trust, social equality, and democratic processes or resilience. This includes, among other things, the effects of candidate gender and similar cues on electoral outcomes, the political inclusion of people with low literacy, and attitudes towards militant democracy. Methodologically, I rely primarily on surveys and survey experiments.
Prior to joining Humboldt-University, I was a doctoral research assistant at the Research Institute Social Cohesion at Goethe-University Frankfurt within the projects Political Conflict Regulation and Social Cohesion and How do we want to talk to each other? Survey experiments about Freedom of Speech and the regulation of Hate Speech, and worked as lecturer at the University of Mannheim.
My work has been published in Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Politics & Governance, German Politics and VOLUNTAS. For the co-authored paper The Potential of Open Lists for the Election of Women to the German Bundestag. Results of a Survey Experiment, we were awarded the 1st prize of the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation Award for essays in the social sciences.
Additionally, I have served as reviewer for manuscripts submitted to Political Studies Review and the European Journal of Political Research.
A more comprehensive CV can be found here and more information about my current work-in-progress here. Please get in touch if you have any questions about my work or if you would like to collaborate on projects aligned with my research interests.
Jan Menzner
Humboldt-University of Berlin | Chair for Political Sociology and Social Policy
Universitätsstr. 3b, 10117 Berlin | jan.menzner@hu-berlin.com
Imprint