Philipp Verpoort

Associate

Philipp Verpoort is an Associate of the Sortition Foundation based in Berlin. His work focusses on improving and innovating statistical aspects of participant selection methods, particularly within the German context. He also explores new technical approaches to facilitating mini-publics, such as dividing them into subgroups (for which he developed the GroupSelect software). In 2023–24, he advised the German parliament on the selection process for the [German federal citizens' assembly on nutrition (Bürgerrat Ernährung).

Philipp joined the Sortition Foundation in 2017 while working on his PhD in physics in Cambridge 2017–2021. One of his first successes was the establishment of the Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly — a project that required extensive exchange with the local authorities in Cambridgeshire, which was recognised with the Vice-Channcelor's Social Impact Award of the University of Cambridge in 2020. From October 2018 to September 2021, Philipp was one of the co-directors of the Sortition Foundation, where he coordinate the activities of members and other interested followers of the organisation.

In his life outside the organisation, he works as a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, where he studies climate mitigation and the transformation of the energy system.