For Meret Stephan, a first-year PhD researcher at the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences, research and reflection often extend beyond the seminar room. While hiking with friends, conversations often drift to civil society, political change, and the power of protest – topics that lie at the heart of her academic work.
Meret's research examines the broader political impact of protests, with a focus on those related to migration. Her interest in the topic did not emerge from a single turning point, but rather from observing the political shifts during the 2015 refugee influx in Europe – a formative period that helped shape her academic path.
She explores how protest movements aim to raise the salience of issues, influence political discourse, and sometimes even alter the status quo. Through large-scale datasets and statistical analysis, Meret investigates the conditions under which protests become effective: how they are mediated by context, framed by media, and shaped by the political environment.
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Meret Stephan is a doctoral researcher at the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences. Her doctoral thesis, titled 'Do Protests Matter? The Influence of Migration-Related Protests on Political Attitudes, Voting Behavior, and Policy Positions', is supervised by Professor Simon Hix and Professor Vink Maarten (co-supervisor).