Dr. Matthias Quent is Professor of Sociology and Chairman of the Institute for Democratic Culture at Magdeburg University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on conflicts around social change, especially research on participation and civil society as well as radicalization, right-wing extremism and hate in digital and physical contexts. He leads the Immersive Democracy project within the European Metaverse Research Network. There he conducts research on the opportunities and risks of the metaverse for democratic values.