Political Science · University of Duisburg-Essen
Conrad Ziller
Professor in the Department of Political Science – Working Group Empirical Political Science. I study how immigration shapes politics and society, the political psychology behind attitudes, extremism and the vote, and how public policy feeds back into what citizens think and do.

I led research projects funded by the German Research Foundation and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. My work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, and Social Forces, among others.
Before Duisburg-Essen I was a postdoctoral researcher and Visiting Associate Professor at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, and a visiting researcher in Vancouver, Odense, and Oxford.
Dr. rer. pol., University of Cologne (2015)
Research
Five threads
Separate literatures, one question: when do political and social contexts pull people together, and when do they push them apart?
Publications
Peer-reviewed and beyond
Preprints and replication files are linked wherever they exist.
Journal articles · peer-reviewed
in press
2026
Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences
Dimensions of heuristic use in mathematical problem solving: Evidence from early secondary school students
Between Socioeconomic Decline and Lack of Political Competition: What Explains the Success of the AfD in North Rhine-Westphalia’s 2025 Integration Council Elections?
Political Support in Times of Progressive Policy Change and Radical-Right Populist Party Success
2025
Beyond Religious Categories: Understanding Differences between Muslims and Non-Muslims in Accepting Parenting Styles Involving Physical Discipline
A survey mode of the future? Investigating respondents’ willingness to participate in self-administered video-based web surveys
Willingness to Share Personal Data Online: The Role of Social Influence and Sustainability
Following Political Science Students Through Their Methods Training: Statistics Anxiety, Student Satisfaction, and Final Grades in the COVID Year 2021/22
The reliability of replications: A study in computational reproductions
Exploring the Role of Social Openness for Pro-Diversity Attitudes in Urban and Rural Places
2024
Investigating Respondents’ Willingness to Participate in Video-based Web Surveys
Modeling Spatial Heterogeneity and Historical Persistence: Nazi Concentration Camps and Contemporary Intolerance
2023
2022
Grenzen politischer Repräsentation: Determinanten der Wahlbeteiligung bei Integrationsratswahlen in Nordrhein-Westfalen
Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty
Considered Effective? How Policy Evaluations and Threat Perceptions Affect Support for Surveillance in the Context of Terrorism
Quality of Local Government and Social Trust in European Cities
Established and Excluded? Immigrants’ Economic Progress, Attitudes toward Immigrants, and the Conditioning Role of Egalitarianism and Intergroup Contact
2021
Personality Traits and Public Support of Minority Rights
Public Support for State Surveillance
Link/Preprint/Pre-analysis plan/Replication
Press: higgs.ch, heidi.news
2020
Green Versus Radical Right as the New Political Divide? The European Parliament Election 2019 in Germany
Residential Segregation and Social Trust of Immigrants and Natives: Evidence from the Netherlands
Local Government Efficiency and Anti-Immigrant Violence
Economic Conditions and Native-Immigrant Asymmetries in Generalized Social Trust
Who Is Willing to Share the Burden? Attitudes Towards the Allocation of Asylum Seekers in Comparative Perspective
2019
Policy Effects on Political Engagement
Antidiscrimination Laws, Policy Knowledge and Political Support
Immigration, Social Trust, and the Moderating Role of Value Contexts
2017
2015
“The Pure People” versus “the Corrupt Elite”? Political Corruption, Political Trust and the Success of Radical Right Parties in Europe
Ethnic Diversity, Economic and Cultural Contexts, and Social Trust: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence from European Regions, 2002–2010
Young Scholar Award 2016, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute (ASI)
2014
Societal Implications of Antidiscrimination Policy in Europe
Book
2024
Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis — A Case-Based Approach
Handbooks and edited volumes
2025
Nachbarschaft als politischer Raum: Eine Untersuchung Duisburger Stadtteile
2023
Migrations- und Integrationspolitik
2022
2020
Multiple Regressionen mit voneinander abhängigen Beobachtungen: Random-Effects und Fixed-Effects
Other publications
2026
2025
Aktivierte Vorbehalte: Wie Migration zum Schlüsselthema der Bundestagswahl 2025 wurde
2024
2023
2020
Essays on Policy Effects on Political Engagement and Intergroup Relations
2019
The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative: Investigating Immigration and Social Policy Preferences using Meta-Science
2015
Voter experience of corrupt officials is an overlooked reason for the electoral success of radical right parties
Social Trust in the Face of Ethnic Diversity: The Moderating Role of Economic, Cultural, and Political Contexts
German Thesis Award (Deutscher Studienpreis, 2. Preis), Körber-Stiftung 2016 · Honorable mention DVPW-Förderpreis 2016
Projects
Research grants
Democracy in Crisis: The Role of Emotions and Affective Polarization for Citizens’ Political Support During Threatening Events
Social openness, social control, and the integration of Muslim immigrants — a panel study in neighbourhoods of selected German cities
Interethnic trust asymmetries and immigrant integration
Teaching & outreach
Statistics without the fear
Most students meet quantitative methods as an obstacle. Both projects below try to change that — one as a textbook, one as short video.
Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis — A Case-Based Approach
A free, case-based introduction that works through real research questions instead of abstract formulas. Available online and as a PDF.
DataVibes — short-form videos on statistics and data analysis on Instagram and TikTok.
Courses taught
Media presence
Selected coverage
Commentary and interviews on elections, the radical right, migration and local politics — in German, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese outlets.
All recent 26 media appearances
Curriculum vitae
Full CV
Curriculum vitae
Appointments, education, awards, third-party funding, professional service, and the list of publications.
Contact
Get in touch
Working Group of Empirical Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg, Germany.
Impressum
Impressum und Datenschutz
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Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Universität Duisburg-Essen
Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg