Day of Parliamentary Research 2026

What roles do emotions and reasoning play in political debates (in parliament and beyond)? How have they changed in recent years? Are we currently seeing emotions being prioritised over facts in political decisions? How must scientific evidence be presented in order to play a central role, even in emotionally charged debates? What role do emotions and feelings play in the creation and application of law? What feelings do citizens develop towards the rule of law and/or the constitution?

These and other questions will be discussed by researchers from various disciplines, countries and institutions at the Day of Parliamentary Research 2026. The event is organised by the Legal, Legislative & Research Services (RLW) of the Parliamentary Administration.

The programme contains keynote speeches by historian Ute Frevert and philosopher of law Sabine Müller-Mall as well as panel discussions and a poster session. Further highlights are the presentation of preliminary results of the ongoing research project of the "Research Year in Parliament” (2025), the announcement of the newly selected project (2026) and a panel discussion addressing the question "How can we make democracy feel good?”. This closing panel discussion explores the role of emotions in democracy – and which approaches from research and practice can counter negative attitudes toward democracy.

The latest detailed information can be found at Day of Parliamentary Research (in English) or Tag der Parlamentsforschung (in German).

Walter Rosenkranz
President of the National Council

Harald Dossi
Secretary General of the Austrian Parliament

Ute Frevert
Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Sabine Müller-Mall
Goethe University Frankfurt

Ute Frevert
Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Sabine Müller-Mall
Goethe University Frankfurt

Moderation:
Christoph Konrath
Parliamentary Administration

Presentations:

"Emotions as privileges: On anger, hope and democratic discourse”
Amani Abuzahra
CUAS - Carinthia University of Applied Sciences

"Can’t we just all get along? Preferences regarding consensus, conflict and violence among German citizens"
Oliver Kannenberg (presentation)/Calixte Bloquet/Danny Schindler
Institute for Parliamentary Research, Berlin

"The flavor of politics"
Arno Böhler/Susanne Valerie Granzer
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

"The sentimental value of parliaments: how to take care for it"
Giovanni Rizzoni
Italian Chamber of Deputies Research Service/LUISS University, Rome

Presentations:

"Feeling under-represented? Intersectional differences in emotions toward the Austrian Parliament and (mis)perceived representation"
Zoe Lefkofridi (presentation)/Matilde Ceron/Ermela Gianna
University of Salzburg

"How MPs understand representation: Reasoning, emotion, and responsiveness in the German Bundestag"
Christian Ignorek (presentation)/Alexander Kühne
Institute for Parliamentary Research, Berlin

"Who participates? Demographic patterns in legislative crowdsourcing"
Sofia Serra-Silva
Université Libre de Bruxelles/University of Lisbon

"Experiencing democracy – The effectiveness of participatory spaces (Demokratiewerkstatt) in fostering democratic competence among children and young people"
Roland Trabe
University College of Teacher Education Vienna/Demokratiewerkstatt, Austrian Parliament

Presentations:

"Trust beyond evidence: Affective dynamics at the science-policy nexus"
Floortje Moes
Erasmus University Rotterdam

"Why political behaviour is always logical, but rarely rational"
Greg Power
Global Partners Governance, London

"Disentangling the sophistication-emotion link: Political interest and confidence-in-knowledge, but not knowledge, drive emotional responses"
Isabella Rebasso
University of Vienna
Gijs Schumacher/Matthijs Rooduijn
University of Amsterdam

"Performative reasoning: The strategic use of epistemic authority in parliamentary debates"
Daniel Wiesner (presentation)/Jakob Moritz-Eberl/Sophie Lecheler
University of Vienna

Presentations:

"Collective control of artificial intelligence: A social choice approach to democratic AI governance"
Martin Lackner (presentation)/Lukas Daniel Klausner
University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten
Paul Anton Bachmann 
Vienna University of Technology
Nicolas Böhmer
University of Potsdam

"Do legislators fear judicial invalidation of their legislation? An empirical study on how the anticipation of judicial review impacts legislative debates on omnibus legislation"
Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov
Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv

"From emotion to norm: Expert scrutiny as a rationalising scrutiny mechanism in parliamentary lawmaking in the context of European integration (the cases of Ukraine and Armenia)"
Anna Khvorostiankina
Eurasia International University, Armenia/UNESCO Chair Holder in Justice and Good Governance for Sustainable Peace and Development
Khrystyna Bidonko
National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy

"From minority protection to performative conflict? Emotionalised obstruction and social-media incentives in the Czech Chamber of Deputies"
Marie Zámečníková
Masaryk University, Brno

"Emotionalisation of political discourse: Sentiment and topic analysis of public comments on Austrian political parties"
Dmitry Erokhin
IIASA International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg

"Coalition mood in times of crisis: Cooperation and conflict in contemporary governments"
Michael Imre
University of Vienna

"Sporting emotions and values? Parliamentary debates on sport, gender, and education in the Nationalrat"
Jörg-Uwe Nieland (presentation)/Thomas Neumann
University of Klagenfurt

"ParlAT: Accessing open data of the Austrian Parliament in R"
Roland Schmidt
werk.statt.codes

"Trust issues: When participation builds trust – and why it sometimes doesn’t"
Kevin W. Setttles
Institute for Parliamentary Research, Berlin

"Who refers to science? Understanding the salience of scientific evidence in parliamentary debates"
Daniel Wiesner
University of Vienna

Presentation of the initiative "Research Year in Parliament"
Susanne Janistyn-Novák
Head of the Scientific Advisory Board

"Resonance spaces of democracy: The changing architecture of parliament in the 21st Century"
Julia Rüdiger
Independent researcher, affiliated with Catholic Private University Linz

Announcement of the newly selected project 2026
Susanne Janistyn-Novák
Head of the Scientific Advisory Board

Presentation of the research project 2026

Christina Hainzl
University of Krems, curator of the exhibition

Olga Kosanović
Director, screenwriter and teacher

Georg Renner
Journalist at Datum, Wiener Zeitung, Missing Link

Maria Stopfner
Senior researcher, linguist, University of Innsbruck

Moderation:
Daniela Ingruber
Institute for Strategy Analysis/netPOL

Christoph Clar
Parliamentary Administration

The event will be held in English.
Following the programme, all participants and guests are invited to exchange ideas during the reception in the Colonnaded Hall (Säulenhalle) and take part in a guided tour of the Parliament Building, tailored specifically to the theme of the event. Please register for the guided tour when registering online for the event.