GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Creating a network for researchers, policy makers and civil society organisations to collaborate together to formulate policy recommendations and to create knowledge-sharing opportunities is a necessary tool to strengthen and renew European democracy. EU bodies and services active in the field of research and innovation on and support for democracy should be associated to the network to avoid overlaps with other EU studies and initiatives and to facilitate the relevance of the activities and outputs of the network for EU policy development.

Proposals should establish an innovative network of democracy research organisations and practitioners of democratic innovation, which will:

• Connect the dots of the current fragmented landscape of research, platforms, databases, knowledge repositories and research infrastructures into new models and practices of democracy and suggested paths for innovation of democratic practices, assessing their impact to ensure a match with the needs of policy makers and facilitate broad dissemination of these models.
• Produce policy recommendations to strengthen and renew democracy in all governance levels and democratic debate in Europe, drawing on the existing body of knowledge. These recommendations must be accessible, publicly available, and well disseminated including through a central open access repository.
• Analyse ex post the dynamics and patterns in terms of citizen participation in the Conference on the Future of Europe and evaluate how they could translate into an infrastructure for inclusive participatory and deliberative democracy in the EU.
• Help policy makers in the EU and Associated Countries to design civic participation strategies for relevant policy areas, in conjunction with the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy.
• Organise 2 retreats per year for policy makers from EU Member States and Associated Countries and EU institutions, targeting high-level officials, to learn and exchange from experts and peers on democratic strengthening and renewal, and encourage exchange on emerging or persisting challenges and threats to democracy, participation and civic engagement.
• Design capacity building activities on inclusive participatory and deliberative forms of democracy at different governance levels, including training and knowledge sharing.