Laura Kollmann
The conference was organized by the international, EU-funded ‘EnTrust’ research project, that comprises teams from Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland and Serbia. Throughout the past three years the project has investigated dynamics of trust and mistrust in regard to different levels of governance.
I was part of the panel on ‘The Realm of Bureaucracy, Local Institutions and the Creation of Dis/Trust’ where I presented findings from my PhD research on the role of dis/trust in the work of ‘street-level bureaucrats’ in the public employment service in Sweden and Germany. I received very valuable feedback and there were many interesting points of discussion with the other participants that have for example conducted research on the role of dis/trust in regard to ‘street-level bureaucrats’ in social assistance programs in different countries in Europe.
Other panels for example engaged with the topics of ‘Protest, Political Contestation, and the Formation of Dis/Trust’, ‘Navigating Trust and Distrust in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic’ and ‘Trust and Distrust in the Context of Migration and Refugees’. Throughout the conference I had many interesting conversations that are valuable for my current research as well as for future research projects. Additionally, a range of people inquired about the research and teaching at the faculty and Helmut-Schmidt University more broadly, which I was happy to report about.