Welcome!
I am currently a postdoc in political science at the Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), working on voting systems.
My interests range from Nudge Theory to alternative voting methods and public opinion.
My background is in political philosophy and my PhD was interdisciplinary.
My research is now experimental, mostly using quantitative methods in "framed-field" experiments, online surveys, and laboratory experiments.
Postdoc (ongoing): Voters from abroad.
Principal Investigator: Dominic Nyhuis (Full Professor of Political Science at Leibniz University Hannover).
Previous Postdoc (2024-2025): Laboratory experiment on egalitarianism in the UAE and France.
Principal Investigators: Bethany Shockley (Assistant Professor of Political Science at American University of Sharjah) and Yuree Noh (Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Utah).
Doctoral Project (2021-2024): Changing the voting method: Voter satisfaction, status quo bias and political consequences.
Supervisor: Roberta Sala (Full Professor of Political Philosophy at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy).
PhD Thesis Reviewers: Jean-Benoit Pilet (Full Professor of Political Science at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium); Herrade Igersheim (Full Professor of Economics at Université de Strasbourg, France).
Viva Committee Examiners: André Blais (Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal, Canada); Antoinette Baujard (Full Professor of Economics at Université Jean Monnet, France).
Publications
Baujard, A., Brunetti, R., Lebon, I., & Marsilio, S. (2025). How people understand voting rules. Public Choice, accepted: https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/gatwpaper/2408.htm
Marsilio, S. (2025). Nudging within political liberalism: A two-way justification for liberal democracies. Mind and Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-025-00349-6
Marsilio, S. (2024). Changing the voting method: Voter satisfaction, status quo bias, and consequences. Doctoral Dissertation. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14242/87589
Marsilio, S. (2023). Nudge the voting method: Could a change in the voting design fit the definition of nudging? Nomopolis, 1, 92-120. https://doi.org/10.3917/nomop.001.0092
Marsilio, S. (2020). Architettare le Scelte. Riflessioni di Filosofia e Politica sulla Teoria dei Nudge. Rome, Italy: IF Press.
Marsilio, S. (2018). Crematistica. Metafisica ed economia nella 'Politica' di Aristotele. Padova, Italy: Il Prato.
Upcoming
Noh, Y., Shockley, B., & Marsilio, S. (Under Review). Elite cues, intergroup contact, and the politics of inclusion: Evidence from the United Arab Emirates.
Shockley, B., Ewers, M., Thani, S., Qureshi, Z., & Marsilio, S. (Under Review). Nationals, neighbors, and new visas: Views on skilled migration and belonging in the UAE.
Drafts
Marsilio, S., & Delemazure, T. (Working Paper). Status quo tendencies or status quo bias? Older Italian voters prefer alternative voting methods to their current system.
Marsilio, S., & Delemazure, T. (Working Paper). Are alternative voting methods ideologically biased? A meta-analysis and new insights from the 2022 Italian election.
Marsilio, S., Brunetti, R., & Baujard, A. (Working Paper). Does experiencing a voting method increase satisfaction with it? Evidence from a lab experiment.
Marsilio, S., & Baujard, A. (Working Paper). Are alternative voting methods preferred to official single-choice systems? A meta-analysis and three new experiments.
Marsilio, S., & Baujard, A. (Working Paper). Incumbent support and supporting the status quo: Testing alternative voting methods in the 2022 French presidential election.
Experiments
Design, data collection, and analysis of a laboratory experiment
(Strasbourg, May-June 2025)
Design, data collection, and analysis of a laboratory experiment, online survey, interviews, and focus groups
(Sharjah, September 2024)
Data collection and analysis of GATE's laboratory experiment
(Lyon, June 2023)
Experimental design and data analysis of an online survey during the 2022 Italian National election
(September 23-24, 2022)
Data collection and analysis during of a framed-field experiment during the 2022 French Presidential election
(Strasbourg, April 10, 2022)
Teaching
6 (quantitative module) + 6 (qualitative module) hours in the Advanced Research Methods course (ref. Bethany Shockley and Gokhan Savas) at AUS (Sharjah, September 2024-April 2025)
2 hours in the Political Philosophy course (ref. Roberta Sala) at UNISR (Milan, April 2024)
4 hours in the executive master Behavioral Economics e Nudging (ref. Francesco Pozzi) at IULM (Milan, March 2024)
4 hours in the Conflict and Political Legitimacy course (ref. Greta Favara) at Università Statale di Milano (Milan, September 2023)
2 hours in the Neuroethics course (ref. Sarah Songhorian) at UNISR (Milan, April 2021)
Visiting
BETA (Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée) from April to June 2025 at the Université de Strasbourg (Strasbourg, France)
GATE (Groupe d'analyse et de théorie economique Lyon St-Etienne) from June 2023 to July 2023 at the Université Jean Monnet
(Saint-Etienne, France)
CEVIPOL (Centre d'études de la vie politique) from September 2021 to September 2022 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles
(Bruxelles, Belgium)
Speaker
APSA (Vancouver, September 2025). Elite Cues, Intergroup Contact, and the Politics of Inclusion: Evidence from the United Arab Emirates
University of Cambridge (UK, July 2025). Fostering Acceptance of Skilled Migrants in the GCC: Insights from the UAE
University of Vienna (Remote, September 2024). Status Quo Tendencies or Status Quo Bias? Older Italian Voters Prefer Alternative Voting Methods to Their Current System
Paris School of Economics (France, July 2024). Political Orientation and Supporting the Status Quo
University of Southampton (UK, June 2024). Status Quo Tendencies or Status Quo Bias?
Older Italian Voters Prefer Alternative Voting Methods to Their Current System
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, September 2023). The Justification for Nudging: Two Types of Paternalism Within Political Liberalism
Prague University of Economics and Business (Czech Republic, May 2023). Alternative Voting Methods and Nudge Theory: Can a Change be Justified as a 'Nudge'?
Strasbourg Summer School (France, August 2022). Nudge Theory and Alternative Voting Methods
12th Braga Meetings (Portugal, June 2022). The Definition and Justification of Nudging
Società Italiana di Neuroetica - SINe (Online, May 2022). The Definition and Justification of Nudging
Manchester Center for Political Theory -MANCEPT (Online, September 2021). Grounding Rawls' Political Liberalism on Mill's Harm Principle: Toward Wider Political Inclusion?
Manchester Center for Political Theory - MANCEPT (Online, September 2021). Nudge and Electoral Systems: A Reform Proposal to Better Represent the Real Intentions of Voters
Chair
European Survey Research Association - ESRA23 (Milan, July 2023). Political Polarization, Voting, and Turnout: Insights from Survey Research
UNISR (Milan, May 2023). Democracy and Ethics of Voting