Hello, everyone! Below and to the right you will find basic information that will help you in planning your trip to Kristiansand. The workshop is very informal, so planning ver far and depp is not something we expect — but on the other hand it might be helpful to have a framework in which to place the coming conversations. So, if you have some time, please take a look at this info.

Behind the call to this workshop there is a history that goes back to the COVID-19 period, when our conference took a severe hit. We ran two annual conferences online and in that period we began to collect materials that eventually led to the conclusion that the time was ripe to seek out a joint network project. What we are attempting to do now in September 2023 is to launch that plan. We began that discussion during our 2022 events in the spring and in the fall. At this point we want to invite you to consider joining in on a 3-part run, explained shortly here.

Let´s begin with Marie Curie Actions.

Future Learning Lab (FLL) is the hosting center behind this workshop. We began as a research group in 2010 and we have hosted all the World Learning Summits since then. However, the time has come to reach out for a more ambitious future and to thaty event we have sought and obtained priority at the University of Agder for an institutional proposal in 2023. That call comes fast. If we are not ready, we will seek quality evaluation for a run on the 2024 call instead, but we will try for 2023.

Starting in 2022, FLL traveled through South-East Europe to enlist partners in this endeavour. At this point, we have very tentatively approached and proposed an MCA alliance with the following: Linneaus University (Sweden), University of Prishtina (Kosovo), University of Vienna (Austria), Aristotle University (Greece), University of Santiago de Comspostela (Spain), and Charles University (Czech Republic). Among these, some have solidified their interest.

Main: MCA PhD Doctoral Networks

If time, please check this call link: MCA 2023.

Also:

Staff mobility perspective – deadline 2025

Erasmus+ will likely have a next call in February 2024, for which it is necessary that all institutions planning toi participate in a call have submitted and received an accreditation to participate. We will talk through this in our session. Typically, Erasmus+ has three Key Actions: 1) Learning and mobility of individuals, 2) Cooperation between institutions, and 3) Policy development and cooperation. Read more here: Key Actions

About the background — read more here.

Thematically, we want the Erasamus+ proposal to circle in the WLS theme of Media Literacy — Technology in Context. When we meet, we will study the call documentation on the Funding & Tenders Portal Topic page carefully, and in particular the Call Document, the Charter, the ECHE Guidelines and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual.

CALLS

Digital democracy

See also:

Past, present and future of democracies (HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01)

HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-01: Protest politics and cultures of opposition in democracy (ex HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-04)

Expected Outcome: Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Practical understanding of the role and evolution of all forms of opposition (protest, cultural opposition, non-compliance, subversion, activism) and their impact on democracy, including in resisting the rise of authoritarian tendencies and in taking down authoritarian regimes.
• Policy recommendations based on a deep analysis of the potential shift from traditional party structures to social mobilisation and activist as means for democratic participation, including drivers and factors that might play a role in fostering such forms of politics.
• Innovative forms of non-conflictual constructive engagement, which can channel social and community mobilisation and protest resulting from lack of/limited channels for democratic civic engagement and collective political action.
• Rebuilding citizens’ trust in the impact and validity of electoral processes at various levels.

Scope:

Citizens increasingly disengage with traditional party politics and voting as a way to express political views, values and beliefs. On the other hand, recent years have seen diverse forms of political protest, social and artistic movements and activism, flourish both offline and online. In fact, the Eurobarometer Youth Survey 2021 showed that a majority of young people in Ireland, Spain and Belgium, amongst others, consider participating in forms of street politics equally or more effective than voting.

Research proposals under this topic should contribute to further analyse the shift towards politics of collective action, and their impact on European democracies, including their role in resisting the rise of authoritarian tendencies and in taking down authoritarian regimes. This could refer to both online and offline forms of collective political action, including artistic forms of protest (audiovisual art, literature, etc.). Proposal should consider drivers and factors that play a role in fostering such forms of politics (emotional, socioeconomic, cultural, historical, generational, geopolitical, etc.), including the role of social media platforms. This should be contextualised in a historical study of the role of protest movements and their impact on democracy. Proposals may analyse local, regional, national as well as transnational movements, mobilisation, and democracy within the European Union.

Proposals should consider the relationship between collective action as a way to channel democratic grievances and limited channels for citizen participation, thus analysing the implications of further citizen support for democracy combined with the dissatisfaction with the current democratic channels (with a special focus on accessibility and inclusiveness of democratic channels such as voting for vulnerable people, mobile citizens, migrants, etc.). This could also mean exploring self-organised alternative forms of citizen participation (such as assemblies) and other innovative forms of non-conflictual constructive engagement.

The growing defiance towards the ‘usefulness’ of voting and electoral processes should also be addressed. Voting abstention as a mean to protest against a perceived lack of options, and how to remediate disengagement with electoral processes, can be a particular focus. Proposals should propose concrete paths to rebuild citizens’ trust in the impact and validity of electoral processes at various level, from local to European.

Special attention could be put on younger generations, who have vastly participated in shaping the public sphere with their activism in movements such as Pride, Fridays for Future and feminist mobilisations. A focus could also be on violence and extremist movements’ influence, for instance on protests against COVID-19 public health measures. How social networks act as a factor to increase societal resilience and as a way to pressure political change could also be investigated. Finally, how formal education contexts are integrating these new manifestations into citizenship education could also be explored. As new forms of political participation are still very much urban-based, proposals should include a specific focus on how to constructively channel rural youth’s discontent.

Proposals are encouraged to make use of participative methodologies and to draw on a combination of methods and literature.

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is encouraged in particular with countries from the MENA region.

Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this topic and other relevant projects is strongly encouraged.

Text coming Friday Sept 22