Boomgaarden, Hajo G.
ERC Advanced Grant ffor the SYNAPS research project
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About the project
How do young people learn about politics in a world shaped by friends, social media, influencers, and algorithms? With the project SYNAPS social scientist Hajo G. Boomgaarden and his team investigate how 14- to 16-year-olds develop political interest, knowledge, and engagement through their everyday interactions offline and online. The project studies young people in Austrian schools and follows how political conversations, friendships, social media use, and digital information flows influence one another over time. It pays particular attention to inequalities, asking why some young people become politically engaged while others remain excluded or unheard. By combining surveys, interviews, social media data, participatory workshops, and computer simulations, SYNAPS will generate new insights into how democratic engagement emerges in adolescence. The project will also help educators, policymakers, and civil society actors design better ways to support inclusive youth participation in democracy. In doing so, SYNAPS offers a timely understanding of how the next generation becomes politically informed, connected, and active.