Paolo Spada
Biography
I received my Ph.D. in Economics from Bologna University in 2006, and my PhD in Political Science from Yale University in May 2012. Between 2011 and 2013 I was a fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. Between 2013 and 2015 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of British Columbia. In 2015-2016 I worked at the University of Southampton evaluating two parallel Citizens Assemblies that I contributed to design and implement. In October 2016 I joined the Empatia project full time at CES in Coimbra (Portugal). I am a member of the core development team of the Participedia Project, of the research unit of the Participatory Budgeting Project, a member of the Digital Engagement Evaluation Team at the World Bank, a member of the development team of the recently launched Empatia project, and a member of Democracy Matters, the consortium of academic and practitioners that promotes the adoption of Citizens' Assemblies in the UK. My research explores the diffusion and impact of governance and social innovations aimed at deepening democracy in Public Administration, Parties and Organizations (Democratic Innovations). Combining large surveys, field experiments, quantitative and qualitative analysis in a comparative perspective, I have examined cases ranging from Brazil, Italy, the United States, Cameroon, Iceland, Canada, the UK and in the next two years I am focusing on Empatia pilots in Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Czech Republic. My most recent research focuses on hybrid innovations that integrate online and offline channels of participation, playful design and argument mapping.
ORCID