| Profile: Simon Niemeyer |
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Simon Niemeyer is an early career researcher (ECR) in the Political Science Program in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. 
Simon is one of the first in the field of deliberative democracy to systematically examine the processes of preference transformation of individuals participating in democratic discourse. His research findings challenge assumptions underlying deliberative theory. For example, he has shown that deliberation serves as much a corrective function to distorted preferences as a constructive one of preference formation. This raises the possibility of approaching the ideals of deliberative democracy in large, disparate populations by correcting these distortions at source. His work also points to a strong connection between democratic deepening and ecological sustainability where populations are responsive to ecological imperatives. Apart from the ANU, he has conducted past research at the University of Cambridge, University of Birmingham and CSIRO (Australia). He has collaborated with several researchers from Australia, USA and Europe. As well as deliberative democracy, other areas of past research include greenhouse gas policy instruments, climate change and society (perceptions of risk, responses etc.), energy technologies and society, the role of knowledge in shaping environmental values and environmental administration. |
