CBS Researchers awarded funding by Independent Research Fund Denmark

Florian Hollenbach and Andrej Savin. Photo: CBS

Independent Research Fund Denmark has granted funding to a total of 222 talented researchers so they can initiate new and important research based on their own best ideas.

Two CBS researchers, Associate Professor, Florian Hollenbach, from the Department of International Economics, Government and Business and Professor with special responsibilities, Andrej Savin, from the Department of Business Humanities and Law have received substantial grants and explain more about their projects below.

Florian explains more about the project “Determinants and Consequences of Legislative Capacity”. His main collaborator on the project will be David Fortunato (Associate Professor at CBS).

"In democratic systems, policymaking involves a partnership between parliaments and bureaucrats. Parliaments create laws, while bureaucrats implement them. The influence of bureaucrats on policy depends on the resources available to parliaments for creating effective laws and monitoring bureaucracy's implementation of said laws.

This creates a strategic dilemma in democratic systems: How much capacity should the legislature have? Our project explores the institutional frameworks that lead parliaments to increase or decrease their resources. We start by developing a theoretical argument that examines the choices made by parliamentary majorities when determining the legislature's capacity. 

To study our theoretical framework empirically, we will gather comprehensive data on legislators' resources and the regulatory mechanisms governing parliamentary conduct. This data will cover national parliaments in all OECD countries over a period of two decades. We also plan to collect data from sub-national authorities in Denmark and Italy. We will use this data to understand why some countries have weak parliaments while others have strong parliaments with ample resources. Additionally, we will investigate whether stronger parliaments, compared to the bureaucracy, lead to policies that better reflect citizens' preferences. 

Through this research, we aim to shed light on the benefits of increasing legislative capacity and its impact on democratic accountability."

Andrej explains more about his project: "The Data Driven Home: A Study of the Socio-Material and Legal Construction of the 21st Century Home."

"This project explores the impact of smart technologies on homes and the challenges they pose to current data protection laws. The first part examines how specific smart home technologies, and their functions reshape our perception of home and create new relationships. The second part focuses on the limitations imposed by existing legal frameworks on these technologies, considering the interplay between data consumption practices, regulations, and contextual factors. The project aims to provide a theoretical understanding of smart consumption and suggest improvements to the legislative framework for protecting personal data in the home."

The funding has been awarded through the DFF-Research Project1 and DFF-Research Project2 programmes.

Other topics of study that have been awarded grants include everything from sex education in primary schools to the history of dog domestication and the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence.