How resilient are democratic societies in times of societal crises, increasing polarization, and rapid technological change? This question was at the heart of this year's SOSEC Conference, which took place at TRIANGEL in Karlsruhe at the end of June.

While temperatures in Karlsruhe and across much of Europe exceeded 40°C, researchers from Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Portugal, and the United States gathered to discuss current research findings under the conference theme How are you, democracy? A total of 22 scientific posters were presented.

The conference was structured into four thematic poster sessions. Each session was moderated by senior researchers from the SOSEC project, whose expertise reflected the breadth of the topics discussed.

• Dr. Jonas Fegert opened the conference and introduced the first session, Democratic Trust, Resilience, and Discourse
• The second session, Online Platforms, Conspiracy, and Polarization, was moderated by Prof. Christof Weinhardt.
• Prof. Michael Mäs chaired the third session, Times of Crises – Climate, War, and Pandemics.
• The conference concluded with the fourth session, NLP, AI and Computational Methods, moderated by Prof. Achim Rettinger.

In addition, Prof. Jella Pfeiffer provided valuable feedback on numerous research projects throughout the dynamic poster sessions.

Across the different thematic areas, it became evident that despite the diversity of topics and methodological approaches, many research projects address similar overarching questions: How can democratic societies be strengthened in the face of increasing polarization? What impact do digital technologies have on social cohesion? And how can societal developments be better understood through both established and innovative empirical methods? Once again, SOSEC demonstrated not only its relevance to some of today's most pressing societal challenges, but also its ability to foster interdisciplinary collaboration across a wide range of research fields and methodological perspectives.

The scientific program was complemented by keynote presentations from Steven Kimbrough (University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School), who reflected on the current state of democracy in the United States, and Christian Roewekamp (German Press Agency (dpa), Democracy News Alliance), who offered new perspectives on journalistic reporting about democracy.

Another highlight was the public evening event, held as part of the Karlsruhe Days of Democracy. In conversation with Eva Murašov (Der Tagesspiegel), Oliver Nachtwey (University of Basel) discussed the causes of regressive societal developments and the rise of authoritarian and far-right tendencies in Germany under the title Why Do So Many People Want to See the World Burn?

The combination of an academic conference and public dialogue once again underscored the importance of exchange between research and society. Scientific findings do not only have an impact within the academic community; through dialogue with a broader public, they gain additional perspectives, relevance, and societal significance.

We are currently compiling the conference contributions into a joint report under the coordination of Dr. Morgan Le Corre Juratic. The report will be published in the coming months to make the discussions and key insights from the conference accessible to a wider audience.

We would like to thank all participants for their valuable scientific contributions and the inspiring discussions. We also extend our sincere gratitude to the TRIANGEL Transfer | Kultur | Raum team for their outstanding organization and hospitality, as well as for providing, through the Karlsruhe Days of Democracy, the ideal setting for this successful event.