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From February 12th to 13th, 2026, DIFIS will organise an International Scientific Workshop titled ‘Public Opinion and Social Policies. Legitimacy and Acceptance of the Welfare State and Specific Life Course Policies’. We warmly invite anyone who is interested to participate in our conference. The workshop will be conducted in English at the Haus der Wissenschaft in Bremen.

Within the two days, we will discuss findings from 24 papers on either the general legitimacy of the welfare state or attitudes towards reforms in a broad array of specific policy fields, including migration, family and care, pension and labour market, eco-social and housing policies.

Two introductory presentations will open the workshop. Dr. Natalie Herdegen and
Dr. Philipp Kugler will provide an overview of the data landscape on attitude indicators.
Dr. Magnus Brosig will provide some insights into the results of a recent German online survey on attitudes towards health, long-term care and pension policy: the “Sozialstaatsradar”.

The keynote of Prof. Dr. Giuliano Bonoli, which will address perceptions of legitimacy of social investment types of social policies, will be another highlight of the workshop. The workshop will also feature a panel discussion, bringing together highly relevant representatives from academia, politics and practice. In addition to Prof. Dr. Giuliano Bonoli, these include Dr. Mareike Bünning,
Dr. Dina Frommert, Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier and Dr. Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn.

You can find the full programme at this link.
You can register here.
We have also provided a link to a list of hotels in Bremen, which includes the hotel rooms we have reserved for self-paying guests.

We are looking forward to your participation!