Aryan Shooshtari is a doctoral candidate in the “Digital democratic innovations” research program at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), where his research focuses on ways to modernize election administration in Germany. After completing his bachelor’s degree in political science (2018–2021), he earned a master’s degree in Public Policy and Public Administration (2021–2024) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. At the same time, he gained practical experience as a research assistant at the Institute of Political Science (2021–2023) and as program coordinator for the Master of Public Policy at the NRW School of Governance (2022–2024).