Simon Stocker

Simon Stocker is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, affiliated with the Department of Political Theory and Empirical Democracy Research at the University of Stuttgart. His work centers on quantitative methods, computational social science, democratic innovations, and descriptive representation, particularly focusing on gender dynamics in local politics.

He holds a Master’s degree in Empirical Political and Social Research (University of Stuttgart, 2019) and completed his Bachelor’s in Social Sciences there in 2015. His research explores how women in municipal political offices influence voter turnout and political deliberation, supported by publications in Journal of Comparative Politics, WISTA - Economy and Statistics, and Stadt und Gemeinde Digital.

• 2025: Making sense of federalism – insights from an open-ended survey question
• 2024: Women in municipal offices and voter turnout
• 2024: Measuring women’s representation in mayoral positions
• 2022: Descriptive representation and local voter participation
• 2021: Policy continuity under the Green-Black coalition

His scientific work has earned a scholarship from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (2019–2021). Since 2020, he has served as Vice Chairman of the Förderverein für Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften (FÖPS e.V.).

Stocker teaches courses on descriptive representation, reflective political reasoning, and data analysis using R. He has held roles as a research assistant and tutor since 2015, contributing to projects on freedom rights, internal security, and experimental political communication research.