Fifteen recently promoted researchers will conduct research at foreign research institutions with Rubicon funding from NWO/ZonMw. The Rubicon program will allow young, promising scientists to gain international research experience. Sociologist Kjell Noordzij from Erasmus University Rotterdam will research the role of political stigma in representative democracies at Stockholm University.
Many citizens are dissatisfied with politics and feel underrepresented and unheard in representative democracies like the Netherlands. But what role does stigmatization of political attitudes play in this? Noordzij will answer this question by studying political stigma at the University of Stockholm together with political sociologist Prof. Dr. Jens Rydgren.
First, Noordzij will collect and analyze quantitative data including a unique measurement of political stigma in the Netherlands. He will study, among others, which groups experience political stigma and how it shapes their political behaviour. This will be followed by a qualitative research phase in which he will conduct in-depth interviews with people who experience political stigma in Sweden: how do they experience political stigma, and how do they deal with it? The novel insights gained in this research contribute to the debate about political discontent in representative democracies and shed new light on how to deal with it.
Characteristics of a Rubicon grant
With a Rubicon grant from the NWO, young, promising scientists can gain international research experience. The grant makes it possible for young researchers to conduct research at a foreign institute that offers the best environment for their research. The amount of financing depends on the chosen destination and the duration of the stay. NWO and ZonMw can finance around sixty young researchers per year (for a total amount of 7 million euros, spread over 3 rounds).
About Kjell Noordzij
Dr. Kjell Noordzij is assistant professor at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He studies the social aspect of representative democracy. Much of his research focuses on political conflicts and how different groups perceive of democracy and their political representation, about which he has published in, among others, the British Journal of Sociology and the European Journal of Political Research.
View the Rubicon laureates and audience summaries from round 2024-1
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Marjolein Kooistra, communication ESSB, kooistra@essb.eur.nl
Britt van Sloun, communication ESSB, vansloun@essb.eur.nl