Ines Mergel is Professor of Public Administration at the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz and a Fellow of the US National Academy of Public Administration. She is also a founding member of the international initiative Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age, which aims to integrate digital skills into the teaching and training of public managers. As part of this initiative, she was appointed a Schmidt Futures Innovation Fellow in 2022.
Carsten Schmidt is Researcher at the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz. Experienced in judicial and digital governance, he served as a Senior Judicial Officer and contributed to national e-Justice working groups. At the Ministry of Justice NRW, Germany, he worked on strategic IT planning and European e-Justice initiatives, participating in EU expert groups and the Council’s e-Law working party. He led several large-scale pilot EU projects advancing cross-border digital services.