Sofie Marien is an expert in digital democracy at Tree company. Tree company specializes in designing and developing digital solutions that inform, engage, and activate citizens on political and societal issues. The combination of expertise in politics and citizen participation with cutting-edge technology is part of the company’s DNA. Custom-made tailormade projects are combined with a large portfolio of digital tools to facilitate constructive discussions and meaningful engagement in democratic processes (including interactive tests, an online debate module, data visualization and story telling tools, a digital participationplatform, 3D visualisation tools,…).
Sofie has a background as a professor of political science at KU Leuven (Belgium). She combines her academic expertise on participatory and deliberative democracy and political communication with digital solutions to strengthen citizen engagement. At Tree company, she has contributed to the development of several Voting Aid Applications (VAAs) and Get Out to Vote Campaigns. She gives support to local municipalities to involve citizens in their policy. She has studied and evaluated several participatory processes and was recently awarded an ERC grant for her research project Meeting Great Expectations Through Democratic Innovations, which examined how participatory and deliberative processes can strengthen public trust across Europe.
As a recognized expert in democratic innovation, Sofie has delivered several keynote speeches on participatory and deliberative democracy and has served as an election analyst for the public broadcaster in Belgium.
The Tree Company