This month we’re putting a spotlight on how interactivity has been enhanced on the Portal e-Cidadania (e-Citizenship Portal) at the Senado Federal (Brazil) with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The e-Citizenship Program is co-ordinated by IPEN Executive Team member, Alisson Bruno Dias de Queiroz at the Senado Federal. Created in 2012, the portal provides a platform for citizens to propose new ideas for legislation and participate in public hearings. This information is then processed for Senators to consider.

During a recent parliamentary recess, the Portal improved the visualization of citizen participation in interactive events — usually public hearings — held by the Senate over the last eleven years. Now, even questions from citizens answered indirectly during past events are identified and marked in the video of the event.

Servers, outsourced workers and commissioners were involved in the endeavor to use AI to analyze more than 1,800 events held between 2013 and 2024. The scanning of more than 23,000 participations generated a result of more than 2,700 questions identified as answered indirectly.

Alisson Bruno said:

“Questions that are read during the event and answered directly are already marked in the video, at the time they are read or answered. When there are no questions read, so that the event does not go blank, we started this process of marking indirect answers using AI last year.

“With the campaign, we also cover older events, but since it is still a manual process, and sometimes there are 100 to 200 questions at the event, not all of them go through this search.”

The team generates a series of commands, called prompts, so that the AI ​​can compare the questions asked with the transcript of the event. In addition, all results are reviewed by humans before being published on the website.

The objective of the campaign was to provide citizens with clearer feedback on their contributions, encouraging active participation in the legislative process and, thus, promoting the advancement of society through this interaction with the Legislature.

More information

Find out more in this news story on the Senado Federal (Brazil) website.

Watch a recording of one of our Public Engagement Hub webinars from 2023 where Alisson Bruno joins with Rodolfo Vaz (Coordinator of Digital Solutions for Citizens, Brazil) to discuss processing high volumes of inputs from citizen engagement in parliamentary business in Brazil.

Images

1. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

2. Palácio do Congresso Nacional, Brasília, Brazil. Photo by Cristina Leston-Bandeira.

Article published 25 April 2025

Resources on the theme of Youth Parliaments are now available for members in our IPEN MS Teams space.

They include two case studies, written by Emma Brewis (Postgraduate Researcher at the University of Leeds) alongside IPEN members from the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) and the Parliament of Indonesia.

Emma has also put together the first of our quick guides which shares insights and tips on setting up and running youth parliaments.

Explore the resources

The following case studies and quick guides can be accessed by IPEN members in the files section of Channel 1.1: Toolkits, Case Studies and Quick Guides in MS Teams:

• Case Study – Indonesia Youth Parliament
• Case Study – Welsh Youth Parliament
• Quick Guide to Youth Parliaments

Create your own case study / quick guide

If you would like to share your work as a case study or are interested in working with us to create more quick guides, then we would love to hear from you. These can be on any theme connected to public engagement with parliament.

More information can be found here on the IPEN website.

Critical Conversation – Youth Parliaments

We’ll be holding our second Critical Conversation event in a couple of months time on the theme of youth parliaments. This event will be open to all IPEN members – please look out in MS Teams and future newsletters for information, date and times.

For these events, we are keen to discuss real life issues and challenges that practitioners face on specific themes related to public engagement with parliament.

If there’s a particular aspect relating to youth parliaments (or anything connected to involving young people in decision making) that you’d like to propose for this event, then please email us at ipen@leeds.ac.uk. It could be some advice you’re looking for, a particular problem you are trying to solve, or practice you’d like to share.

Join IPEN

If your work or research is connected to youth parliaments, you are very welcome to apply to join the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN).

The network brings together academics, parliamentary officials and third sector representatives from across the world, to promote collaboration and encourage knowledge sharing around parliaments and public engagement.

Find out more and join IPEN.

Images

1. IPEN case studies and quick guide on the theme of Youth Parliaments.

2. Welsh Youth Parliament Residential in the Chamber, 26 November 2022 Senedd Ieuenctid Cymru, Gyfarfod Preswyl yn y Siambr, 26 Tachwedd 2022. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

3. IPEN brings together academics, parliamentary officials and third sector representatives from across the world.

Page published on 25 April 2025

The second edition of Exploring Parliament – a textbook providing an engaging and accessible introduction to the UK Parliament – has been published by Oxford University Press.
 
Exploring Parliament is edited by IPEN members Professor Cristina Leston Bandeira (University of Leeds), Dr Alexandra Meakin (University of Leeds) and Dr Louise Thompson (University of Manchester). The book includes contributions from 73 authors – a mix of academics and practitioners, including many members of IPEN.
 
Exploring Parliament brings in theory, combined with practice, through a series of short chapters accompanied by case studies which make the subject come to life, plus features such as a glossary of parliamentary terms.

Four of the chapters are specifically relevant to IPEN’s focus, on spaces and places, the media, public engagement and trust.

Exploring Parliament – book launch event

Exploring Parliament will be launched at a hybrid event on Thursday 15 May, starting at 17:30 GMT+1 / UK time.
 
At this event, the editors will make opening remarks, reflecting on the book’s unique approach. A panel of the book’s authors will discuss their chapters and insights, followed by a Q&A session.
 
The event will be chaired by Dr Hannah White, Director and CEO at the Institute for Government.
  
Book your place to attend the book launch online.

Book to attend in person.

Find out more about the second edition of Exploring Parliament on the Oxford University Press website.

About the editors

Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira is a Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds. She has worked on parliaments for nearly 30 years. She is Chair of the International Parliament Engagement Network and a previous Chair of the UK Study of Parliament Group (2019-22). Professor Leston-Bandeira’s research focuses on public engagement with parliament, having published widely on the topic and having secured funding from the AHRC, the British Academy, ESRC and the Leverhulme Trust. She regularly gives evidence to parliaments on public engagement, having held a fellowship with the Petitions Committee of the UK House of Commons in 2016-17. She is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing the quality and innovation of her teaching, including a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship (2012) and the Political Studies Association Bernard Crick Main Prize for Outstanding Teaching (2010).

Dr Alexandra Meakin is Lecturer in British Politics at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on parliamentary governance and the plans to repair the buildings of the UK Parliament (known as the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster). Dr Meakin’s PhD ‘Understanding the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster: A case study of institutional change in the UK Parliament’ was awarded by the University of Sheffield in 2019 and received the 2020 Walter Bagehot Prize for best dissertation in the field of government and public administration by the Political Studies Association. She is a member of the Study of Parliament Group and the International Parliament Engagement Network, and a former convenor of the Political Studies Association Specialist Group on Parliaments and Legislatures. Prior to entering academia, Dr Meakin worked for over a decade in Westminster, for select committees in the House of Commons and for MPs.

Dr Louise Thompson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on legislative scrutiny, committees and political parties in the House of Commons. She is the co-editor of Parliamentary Affairs and a POST parliamentary fellow (2024-2025) undertaking research with the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. She was previously the Co-Convenor of the Political Studies Association’s specialist group on Parliaments and Legislatures (2014-2018). In 2022, Dr Thompson was awarded the Political Studies Association’s Richard Rose Prize for a distinctive contribution to the study of British Politics.

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Exploring Parliament book, Oxford University Press.

Article published: 24 April 2025

Last year, we launched a survey to create an accessible global map of parliamentary public engagement practice.

The survey is part of a project titled Mapping public engagement in parliaments across the world, developed as a Parliamentary Academic Fellowship through the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), together with the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN).

The map is now coming together and will soon be launched online. Huge thanks to those of you who have contributed by completing a survey to help us understand how different parliaments engage with their citizens.

Coordinating the survey is Dr Laura Sudulich, a Parliamentary Academic Fellow based at the University of Essex. Laura has now created a beta version of the map and is in the final stages of collecting and collating the data.

It’s not too late for details for your parliament to be added. If you have any information you wish to be included in the map, the survey is still open and can be accessed here.

We are interested in including public engagement activity in all parliaments across the world, whether that be national, subnational or supranational.

IPEN members can try out the beta version of the map – to give feedback and check that information you have submitted so far is correct – by accessing it in IPEN’s MS Teams space.

Find out more about the project and survey to create a map of public engagement practice in this news story on the IPEN website.

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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Page published: 23 April 2025

Book chapter by Sarah Moulds on the Australian House of Representatives

A new book published by LSE Press includes a chapter on the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament by Dr Sarah Moulds (Associate Professor in Law, University of South Australia and IPEN Deputy Chair).

Edited by Patrick Dunleavy, Mark Evans and John Phillimore, Australia’s Evolving Democracy: A New Democratic Audit uses an audit approach to critically explore Australia’s government institutions, as well as state- and territory-level politics, and to examine how each has contributed to or held back Australian political life as it has changed and diversified.

Sarah’s chapter is one of 28 in the book which covers a range of different aspects of Australia’s democracy, including the protection of human rights, the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum, elections and voting, the role of interest groups and mainstream media, and the impact of federalism on lawmaking and policy.

Each chapter outlines recent developments along with an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, to fully evaluate the state of Australian democracy in the 21st century. In doing so, the authors draw key lessons for other democracies, showing in detail how robust major and micro-institutions can guard against democratic ‘backsliding’ and policy failures.

This comprehensive audit also highlights scope for potential democratic improvements. Australia continues to confront the challenges of partisan political barriers to addressing climate change and improving the situation of First Nations peoples, redressing modern social inequalities, and responding to popular mistrust of government and politicians.

‘Parliament – the House of Representatives’ by Dr Sarah Moulds was published by LSE Press in Australia’s Evolving Democracy: A New Democratic Audit (Evans, M et al (eds.) on 5 December 2024.

The book and Sarah’s chapter can be found here via open access.

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Book launch event for Australia’s Evolving Democracy: A New Democratic Audit.

Article published: 24 April 2025

Written evidence submitted on behalf of the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) to the Modernisation Committee of the UK House of Commons has been published online.

This cross-party committee of MPs was set up to consider reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards and working practices.

The committee gathered views from the wider parliamentary community and external stakeholders, resulting in hundreds of individuals submitting their views to the committee. Ideas were invited under its three strategic aims of driving up standards, improving culture and working practices, and reforming procedures to make the House of Commons more effective.

The committee heard from more than 700 people and the written evidence submissions received from organisations – including from IPEN – have now been published online. A summary of the views submitted can be read in the Committee’s memorandum on its next steps.

IPEN members’ contribution

We invited our members to contribute views to shape IPEN’s submission of written evidence to the Committee, through a call in our November 2024 newsletter.

The submission was collated on behalf of members by IPEN’s Chair and Deputy Chairs: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds), Dr Elise Uberoi  (UK House of Commons Library) and Dr Sarah Moulds (University of South Australia).

IPEN’s evidence focused on public engagement and drew on our members’ extensive knowledge and experience of what makes public engagement work. The key points were that:

• the Committee should make public engagement one of its priorities to drive improvement in the strategic coordination and delivery of relevant activities across the House; and

• better public engagement can help to build people’s trust in their representatives, and can contribute to better scrutiny. This can in turn improve legislative standards and avoid costly unintended consequences that can flow from enacting legislation that has not been carefully considered from a range of different perspectives.

Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira said:

“The submission of evidence by the International Parliament Engagement Network to the UK House of Commons Modernisation Committee demonstrates the important role that IPEN now performs.

“IPEN is a critical network with a significant voice in highlighting the importance of public engagement for parliaments today. At a time of low trust in politics, parliaments need to take public engagement seriously.

“With over 500 members from over 80 countries, IPEN has played a transformational role in sharing knowledge and practice in this area and in underscoring the importance of public engagement for parliaments across the world.

“We look forward to see how the Modernisation Committee takes on board the topic of public engagement in their proposals for reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards and working practices”.

Read IPEN’s written evidence submitted to the Modernisation Committee of the UK House of Commons.

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UK Parliament, London. Photo by Cristina Leston-Bandeira.

Article published: 28 March 2025

One of the many benefits of membership of the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) is the sharing of practice, experience and research between members within our MS Teams space. This happens in all manner of ways, such as through seminars, showcase events, conversational posts, the sharing of initiatives, reports and more.

IPEN has created a range of resources over the past few years, some of which are available here on our website and others in MS Teams. We’re now looking to extend our portfolio of resources through a new series of case studies (examples of good practice for a specific activity) and ‘quick guides’ (short guides to specific engagement activities).

Co-created with members

These will be co-created with and for our members and hosted in our MS Teams space. The key purpose is to help IPEN members share their wisdom, and equip each other with short, practical guidance for improving public engagement practice.

We’ll be sharing the first of these with members in the coming weeks. The will include two case studies on the theme of youth parliaments, written by Emma Brewis ( Postgraduate Researcher at the University of Leeds) alongside IPEN members from the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) and the Parliament of Indonesia. Another showcases the Teacher Ambassador Programme at the UK House of Commons.

In addition to the case studies, the first of our ‘quick guides’ will share insights and tips on setting up and running youth parliaments.

Share your practice

We are keen to develop further case studies and quick guides on the various aspects of the amazing work that our members do to engage the public with their parliaments.

Emma Brewis and other members of the IPEN Executive team have created a template for quick guides and case studies. Now we need you to fill in the blanks! This is not about writing an academic paper: it’s all about creating something accessible, shareable and practical.

Quick guides

Quick guides could be on engagement activities (such as online petitions or supporting witnesses to engage with parliamentary committees), or they could cover education or outreach programs targeting specific groups, or address emerging issues (such as the use of AI and public engagement, or the parliament as a culture institution).

Case studies

Case studies might focus on specific experiences that you have been part of – such as an effective (or challenging) committee inquiry that saw elected members travel to rural or regional areas, or the use of online gaming to engage with young people, or the connection between post legislative scrutiny and engagement.

They could also focus on citizen-led engagement, or specific tools or strategies that you have used to measure or evaluate engagement activities. They could address or specific skills you have developed within your engagement teams, such as excellent teaching and school resources.

Find out more and get in touch

If you would like to share your work as a case study, or are interested in working with us to create more quick guides, then please get in touch with us at ipen@leeds.ac.uk or email Dr Sarah Moulds (University of South Australia and Deputy Chair of IPEN).

Find out more about IPEN including how to apply to become a member.

Photo: Welsh Youth Parliament Residential in the Chamber, 25 November 2023 / Senedd Ieuenctid Cymru, Gyfarfod Preswyl yn y Siambr, 25 Tachwedd 2023. Photo: Senedd Cymru / Welsh Parliament. Source: flickr. Attribution: CC BY 2.0.