Introduction (01/04/2025)

Introduction

Share input on citizen engagement project impact (26/03/2025)

The European Commission invites Public Administrations in the EU to fill out an impact survey which will inform a report to policymakers in Member States and EU Institutions

Online Training for Public Administrations in Europe (25/02/2025)

Registration is open for the new training on citizen engagement for public administrations, which will be offered with different levels of competencies (basic, advanced and trainer levels).

Join the Advisory Committee (01/04/2025)

An Advisory Committee will support the Assembly in terms of knowledge curation as well as transparency and integrity of the process. The call for expressions of interest to join the Committee is now open! Deadline April 7

Codes of Practice for Knowledge Valorisation (28/03/2025)

The European Commission is calling for feedback on the Codes of Practice for Knowledge Valorisation, adopted in 2023-2024. Share your insights!

New Report Coming Soon (03/04/2025)

The Competence Centre will be releasing a new report on public spaces and citizen engagement before summer. Stay tuned for more information about the launch....

Deliberative Integrity: Risks and Responses in Mini-Public Governance (04/04/2025)

New report examines risks to the governance of deliberative assemblies

European Citizens' Panels and Platform (04/04/2025)

The European Citizens' Panels on the budget have kicked off, as well as the Intergenerational Fairness Debate and Youth Dialogues. Check out more here.

Meet the Competence Centre Corners (17/02/2025)

We are pleased to connect with members of the Community of Practice or to address specific questions concerning citizen engagement from 2pm to 5pm CET on 28th April. If interested, book your 30-minute slot!

Events across the Community in 2025 (15/12/2023)

Check out our events page to see what's coming up in the year ahead, including workshops, conferences and more.

Citizen Engagement in Policymaking Training (25/02/2025)

Hurry, places are filling up fast. Sign up now for our regular Citizen Engagement in Policymaking training (online) on March 18 and 20, 2025.

Contribute to the OECD Deliberative Democracy Database - Deadline March 5 (25/02/2025)

With over 700 cases, the OECD-OCDE Deliberative Democracy Database documents representative deliberative processes worldwide. To ensure the database is up-to-date, the OECD is seeking new cases of deliberative processes that took place between Sept 2023 - Jan 2025. If you are a policymaker, practitioner, researcher, or aware of relevant initiatives, you are encouraged to contribute.

Join conversations on the Next European Budget & Intergenerational Fairness (20/02/2025)

The online debate has begun on the Next European Budget and the issue of Intergenerational Fairness - it's important that everyone hears about their chance to be heard, so spread the message on how you and others can get involved.

Check out more events on our website (16/09/2024)

Our Community of Practice website features upcoming events related to participatory and deliberative democracy.

What's coming up in 2025? (14/01/2025)

Find out what's coming up at the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy, and at the European Commission, next year.

Coming soon in 2025-2026 (14/01/2025)

100 young people from across the EU will come together to deliberate over issues connected to the decline of wild pollinating insects and develop policy recommendations for the EU institutions.

In support of different ways of knowing (09/12/2024)

The CC-DEMOS is upstarting a new Community of Practice to help bring local, traditional and indigenous knowledges into science and policymaking processes.

Scaling democratic innovations across different contexts (15/01/2025)

The new EU-funded project ScaleDem will promote the adoption and scaling of democratic innovations as a way towards greater inclusive and participatory governance.

Parma says ‘Buon Appetito’ to school students (14/01/2025)

Inspired by a JRC citizen engagement toolkit, the project in Parma seeks to bring students to the table to talk about food.

Citizen Participation and Deliberative Democracy Festival Highlights (16/09/2024)

Read about the June 2024 Festival in Brussels, which looked at innovations in participatory and deliberative processes with a spotlight on the Green Transition.

Corporate Guidance on Citizen Engagement (16/09/2024)

The objective of the European Commission's Guidebook is to establish a reference toolbox that summarises different formats and objectives of citizen engagement, and provide guidance on how to choose and implement citizen engagement in policy files.

Trustworthy Public Communication (16/09/2024)

This JRC provides evidence-based insights and recommendations on how public communicators can strengthen the future of democracies by navigating (new) information ecosystems in ways that earn the trust and confidence of citizens.

Defending Democracy in Europe: Addressing the threat of authoritarian populism and reinforcing democratic practice (16/09/2024)

The European Group on Ethics analyses how a recent wave of far-right populism puts democracy at risk. It formulates a substantive understanding of democracy that does not limit it to elections, but makes real the values and rights it is based upon.

Strengthening Democracy through Participatory and Deliberative Processes (15/09/2024)

This Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe report finds that participatory and deliberative democracy processes can contribute to rekindling citizens’ trust in public authorities and strengthen their political engagement, including their participation in decision-making processes, in complementarity with representative institutions.

The CLIMAS Project Citizen Science Toolkit (24/09/2024)

The Toolkit is a resource for organizations, communities, and participants involved in climate citizens’ assemblies. By integrating citizen science into climate assemblies, participants can gain expertise and contribute to breaking top-down structures, fostering a more democratic and inclusive deliberative process.

Sign up to become European Capital of Democracy 2026 (24/09/2024)

Every year a different city is selected as the European Capital of Democracy (ECoD) by a jury of 4,000 European citizens. The call to become the next European Capital for Democracy is now open.

Empowering Citizens for a Greener Europe: join the European Climate Pact (24/09/2024)

The European Climate Pact is excited to announce the new call for Climate Pact Ambassadors, running from 1 to 31 October.

Join us for the 5th Festival (12/06/2024)

Find out more and register for the Citizen Participation and Deliberative Democracy Festival in Brussels from June 12-14th.

Summit for Democracy (15/05/2024)

The 3rd Summit for Democracy convened government representatives, activists, academics and practitioners in South Korea to build a “Democracy for Future Generations" in March. Graham Allen, Convenor of the Citizens’ Convention for UK Democracy, updates us on the Deliberative Democracy and Citizens’ Assemblies Cohort discussions.

Understanding the impact of Citizen Engagement on Policy, Institutions and Society (15/05/2024)

A JRC study is exploring impact of citizen engagement to better understand how participatory processes influence and transform policymaking and society.

ERC Report on Democracy (15/05/2024)

The report presents European Research Council-funded projects working on challenges confronting democratic systems as well as the resilience of democratic principles and civic engagement.

AGORA Project (14/05/2024)

A Gathering place to cO-design and co-cReate Adaptation – AGORA - is a Horizon Europe project supporting the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.

INSPIRE Project (15/05/2024)

INSPIRE (Intersectional Space of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded) aims to strengthen intersectional inclusion within participatory deliberative processes.

The SensJus project (04/05/2024)

'Sensing for Justice' uses Civic Monitoring as an active form of citizen engagement to research the potential of grassroots-driven environmental monitoring, i.e. Citizen Sensing.

Meet the Competence Centre (15/05/2024)

The next ‘Meet the Competence Centre!’ corner will be held on June 24, 2024. The Competence Centre is happy to meet members of the Community of Practice or to address specific questions concerning citizen engagement from 2 pm to 5 pm CET. If interested, book your 30-minute slot!

Call for Initiatives - Deadline May 17 (15/05/2024)

World Forum for Democracy 2024 "Democracy and Diversity - Can we transcend the divides?"

Innovative implementation of the partnership principle in the context of EU regional policy (23/02/2024)

DG REGIO offers technical support by experts from the OECD to public authorities to work in cooperation with civil society organisations to implement in an innovative way the partnership principle in the context of EU regional policy. The call for expression of interest is open until 31st March, 2024

The next training on citizen engagement in policymaking (13/09/2023)

The Competence Centre’s next training on citizen engagement in policymaking will include two days on 13 and 20 March 2024. The training will focus on deliberation and co-creation practices and methods with case studies, as well as guidance on how to plan citizen engagement activities. The training will also offer networking and peer-to-peer discussion, together with practical exercises and hands-on group work on cases of interest to the participants.

Festival Website Goes Live (03/03/2024)

As preparations for the 5th edition of the Citizen Participation and Deliberative Democracy Festival are picking-up steam, we are happy to announce that the Festival website has been published.

Citizens' Engagement Platform (22/02/2024)

The European Citizens' Engagement Platform went live this month, and the latest round of citizens' panels kicks off today.

Meet the Competence Centre team (25/03/2024)

Join our regular 'CC-Corners' with the Competence Centre Team and find out more about our work.

Procurement instrument for expertise and capacity to support citizen engagement in policymaking (15/12/2023)

The European Commission, Directorate-General for Communication (COMM), in 2023 published a Call to Participate in a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) targeting expertise and capacity to support its growing needs to engage citizens in policy-making. All economic operators capable of delivering services underpinning participatory processes are invited to submit request to participate.

Commission recommends that Member States get citizens more involved in policymaking (15/12/2023)

A new Recommendation to Member States on citizen participation in policymaking suggests that co-creation and deliberative democracy could help build more resilient democracies.

Apply to showcase your project at the 5th Festival (15/12/2023)

A call is open for proposals of citizen engagement projects and resources to exhibit their work at the Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Festival in Brussels in 2024.

New JRC research project on integrated bioeconomy land use assessment (01/01/2024)

The project marks an important step in addressing the issue of sustainable land use in the context of a growing bioeconomy, aiming to generate a nuanced understanding of land system responses to bioeconomy-related policies across the European Union.

Participatory tools and models for stronger EU engagement (01/12/2023)

New research paper from ECNL presents an overview on emerging tools and models to help safeguard citizen participation at the EU level.

Why is it important to include citizens in urban policymaking to support biodiversity? (01/12/2023)

We asked project leaders and representatives from various cities involved in BiodiverCities, to explain why engaging citizens in support of biodiversity matters and when.

Giving a spatial perspective to our understanding of democracy and public participation (01/12/2023)

The new JRC project, ‘Public spaces as spaces for citizen engagement: Partnership to democratise science and policy’, comes at a critical time, given shrinking number and size of public and civic spaces in Europe and elsewhere, seen as important places for connection and engagement.

Attention #Makers! Applications for the JRC Makers-in-Residence programme are now open (04/09/2023)

Three makers will be selected to participate in a 10-day funded residency at the JRC Makerspace, in Ispra, Italy. Deadline: 30/09/2023, 12:00 CEST (midday).

15 September is International Democracy Day! (05/09/2023)

On the International Democracy Day, the inter-governmental organisation IDEA is organising an event focusing on inclusive democracy and its role in sustainable development. The event is also devoted to exploring interconnections between the United Nations and its Member States, civil society and various stakeholders, and other democracy topics. Read more and attend!

Citizen engagement in libraries? (11/07/2023)

What comes to mind when you think of public libraries? Books – of course. But one also thinks of community, a place of belonging, a place for all members of society to come together. Public libraries are open to everybody – at their core, they are accessible and inclusive spaces.

BiodiverCities Atlas is out now! (14/03/2023)

The atlas presents case studies from the BiodiverCities project on how to meaningfully engage citizens in the making of more liveable cities.

New generation of Citizen Panels ends: The citizens’ contribution to European policy making (06/07/2023)

Read more on the new generation of Citizen Panels organised in December 2022 by the European Commission. The events were a direct follow-up to the proposals originating from the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Curating matters of care in the Arctic: What does knowledge co-creation look like for policymaking? (18/07/2023)

On May 26, the CC-DEMOS organised a workshop in Ispra, in our Collaborative Space, in partnership with the H2020 Arctic Passion consortium, titled 'Curating matters of care in the Arctic: What does knowledge co-creation look like for policymaking?'

DG REGIO: Call for expressions of interest remains open until 30.11.2023 (12/04/2023)

Read more on the 'Innovative Implementation of the Partnership Principle in EU Cohesion Policy'. Deadline for submitting application is 30.11.2023.

Meet the Competence Centre on Participatory & Deliberative Democracy (13/02/2023)

The next ‘Meet the Competence Centre!’ corner will be held on September 18 and October 25, from 2 pm to 5 pm. The Competence Centre is happy to meet members of the Community of Practice or to address specific questions concerning citizen engagement. If interested, book your 30 minutes slot!

Register for the Autumn School on Citizens' Assemblies (14/07/2023)

Do not miss the chance. The registration for the Autumn School on Citizens' Assemblies is now open. Join the capacity-building event for policy-makers, civil servants and other societal actors to learn how to implement Citizens' Assemblies. Book your place now!

Training for public administrations on participatory processes (20/07/2023)

CC-DEMOS is developing a training package for EU public administrations at local, regional and national level to support their capacity in engaging citizens in policymaking through co-creation and deliberative processes.

Council of Europe: The second School on Participatory Democracy in Türkiye is afoot (23/08/2023)

The second School on Participatory Democracy in Türkiye will take place in Ankara. The School is open to Turkish participants who want to broaden their practical knowledge on participatory standards and tools. The deadline for application is 18 September, 6pm CEST.

“Imagining Eat Together” goes to Parma (23/08/2023)

Check out two upcoming events organised in partnership with the Association “I Musei del Cibo della provincia di Parma”!

EU Knowledge Valorisation Week 2023 will run from 25 to 28 April (09/03/2023)

The EU Knowledge Valorisation Week is back! It runs from 25 April to 28 April 2023. It brings together research and innovation actors to exchange experiences, discuss current trends and challenges, and highlight valorisation opportunities with a wide range of stakeholders. Register now! The EU Knowledge Valorisation Week 2023 will feature themed days devoted to sustainability, management of intellectual assets and industry-academia cooperation. The event will also be an opportunity to explore the potential of the Guiding Principles for Knowledge Valorisation, the new pan-European initiative to turn research and innovation results into solutions more effectively. In the ‘Valorisation Talks’, practitioners will explain how the brand-new Codes of Practice on intellectual assets management and on standardisation will help R&I actors. The webinars will showcase excellent and concrete examples of how to put these guidance documents into practice for the public good and individual goals. Be inspired by these best practices of knowledge valorisation submitted by stakeholders through an open call on the EU Knowledge Valorisation Platform.

Spring School on Climate Citizens’ Assemblies: Designing climate futures with citizens. (25/03/2023)

Do not miss the deadline for registrations: Wednesday, 19 April!

European Convention on Democracy Technologies (14/03/2023)

The first European Convention on Democracy Technologies is taking place on 11 May 2023 in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.

Explore funding opportunities for citizen participation in 2023 (13/03/2023)

Read more on the funding opportunities in 2023 for citizen’s participation under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme.

Read the most recent insights on the 2nd Summit for Democracy (31/03/2023)

Graham Allen comments for us on the 2nd Summit for Democracy and reflects on the current ideas and forms of democracy, as well as its possible future shapes.

Institutionalising co-creation? Challenges and opportunities (30/03/2023)

Highlights from the research seminar and work conducted by researchers Ann Karin Tennås Holmen (University of Stavanger) and Helena Junyer Puig (University of Utrecht), on participating cities to BiodiverCities.

Citizen engagement and biodiversity protection (30/03/2023)

Read about the latest pilot projects on engaging citizens in the protection of wild pollinating insects run by the Competence Centre.

Mission Publique's perspective on the Conference on the Future of Europe (13/03/2023)

Read Mission Publique's comments on the Conference on the Future of Europe.