Guests/Fellows

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research & Development Centre on Law and Society (CEDIS), Faculty of Law, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal); Guest Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul University (Türkiye)

Dr. Kong's research visit (September 2026) is hosted by Prof. Dr. Gabriele Abels, Speaker of the ECRF Executive Board and Chair of Comparative Politics and European Integration at the Institute of Political Science, University of Tübingen.

Dr. Kong is a scholar of constitutional history and federal thought. He holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Izmir University of Economics, Türkiye, a master’s degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and a bachelor’s degree from Beijing Foreign Studies University, China. His research examines how decentralised political and constitutional orders can sustain social cooperation and collective self-governance in complex and pluralistic societies, drawing on political philosophy and the history of political thought, and engaging with themes such as federalism, autonomy, associational democracy, and anarchism.

During his research stay at the ECRF in September 2026, Dr. Kong is completing a research paper on Portugal’s 2018 decentralisation reform, provisionally entitled “Symbolic Promises and Institutional Constraints in Portugal’s 2018 Decentralization Reform”. The paper examines whether the reform constitutes a genuine transfer of political power to local government or an administrative reorganisation within the existing unitary state.

Dr. Kong argues that the reform represents a case of symbolic decentralisation: three legal techniques embedded in the law enable the central government to transfer operational responsibilities while retaining institutional control. The paper employs the principle of subsidiarity as its analytical framework and draws on German federalism as a comparative contrast, where subsidiarity operates within a constitutionally entrenched federal order rather than the unitary premise of the Portuguese case.

More information about Dr. Lingkai Kong

Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, Africa Nazarene University (Kenya)

Dr. Khakula's research visit (July – September 2026) is hosted by Prof. Dr. Gabriele Abels, Speaker of the ECRF Executive Board and Chair of Comparative Politics and European Integration at the Institute of Political Science, University of Tübingen.

An expert in comparative constitutional law, multi-level governance, sustainable development, and human rights, Dr. Khakula holds a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of South Africa. During his stay at the ECRF, he is conducting comparative research on German fiscal federalism and its relevance for strengthening fiscal devolution in Kenya.
His project examines how Germany's system of multi-level governance – particularly its role in promoting cohesion and balanced development following reunification – can provide insights for Kenya's devolved governance framework. Since the adoption of the 2010 Constitution and the implementation of elected county governments in 2013, Kenya has pursued fiscal, political, and administrative decentralisation. Dr. Khakula's research investigates how experiences from the German federal system can contribute to more equitable regional development and improved fiscal governance in the Kenyan context.
The research combines comparative legal and political analysis with expert consultations, focus group discussions, and institutional visits at the federal and local levels. The project seeks to identify practical approaches for strengthening fiscal decentralisation and addressing long-standing regional inequalities.

About the TWAS–DFG Cooperation Visits Programme

Dr. Khakula's research stay is funded through the TWAS–DFG Cooperation Visits Programme, a joint initiative of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). The programme enables early-career researchers from sub-Saharan African countries to spend up to three months at German research institutions for the purpose of research collaboration and academic exchange. By supporting international cooperation across all disciplines, the programme contributes to long-term scientific partnerships and the development of research networks between Germany and African institutions.

Dr. Simon Immanuel Lenhart studied Social and Political Sciences (B.Sc. and M.A.) at the University of Cologne from 2013 to 2017. From 2020 to 2022, he worked as a research associate in the project “REGIOPARL - Regional Parliaments Lab” at the Department of European Politics and Democracy Research at University for Continuing Education Krems, which focused on the comparative analysis of regional parliaments and their role in the European multilevel system. Subsequently, from 2022 to 2026, he worked as a research associate at the Institute of Political Science at FernUniversität in Hagen in the chair “Political Science III: Public Policy Analysis and Environmental Policy,” where he expanded his profile in European Studies to include public policy analysis. In addition, he was involved in the research project “KommZuEU: Municipalities as Anchors of Cohesion in the European Multilevel System” (2021–2023), which examined the role of German municipalities within the European multilevel system. He completed his PhD in Political Science with a focus on European politics at the University of Tübingen from 2021 to 2025. In his dissertation entitled “Striving for Greater Influence: An Analysis of the Institutional Activism of the European Committee of the Regions in the Conference on the Future of Europe,” he analyses the institutional activism of the Committee of the Regions during phases of EU reform.

Through his stay as a visiting fellow at the ECRF, he builds on his previous research on the role of regional and local actors in the European multilevel system and further develops this focus.

Research interests: 

• European politics and European integration
• Regional and local authorities in the European multilevel system
• Comparative parliamentary research
• Public policy analysis

E-Mail: simon-immanuel.lenhart@uni-tuebingen.de

Current publication:
Europeanisation at the subnational level (Special Issue in Contemporary European Politics; edited with Elisabeth Donat)
Altruistic, ego-centred or both? A value-based typology of supporters of a pro-European movement (with Donat Elisabeth and Fabian Elbaky)
Rethinking Subnational Europeanisation: Relational Agency in the EU's Multilevel System (with Donat Elisabeth)