27 April 2022

In this seminar, the UK House of Commons Chamber Engagement Team will explain how they have changed their approach to online engagement over the last year. Having begun on social media, the team have now developed a new and more targeted system to engage the public with debates.

The seminar will look at how, by working in close collaboration with other teams in the House of Commons, the team were able to develop a model keenly focussed on political neutrality, effective evaluation, and closing the feedback loop.

31 March 2022

This seminar will focus on public engagement in relation to parliamentary buildings and spaces.

We’ll hear how the UK Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme sought the public’s views as it plans for the restoration of the Palace of Westminster.

We’ll also hear from Professor Sophia Psarra on the academic context and representatives from other parliaments on how they approach welcoming the public into their spaces.

During the breakout session, participants will have the opportunity to discuss their own cases, share best practice, and learn from IPEN’s international member base.

14:00	Welcome & Introductions
14:05	Engagement in action: the UK Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme  James Tringham,   Head of Engagement, R&R Sponsor Body
14:35	Reflections from the National Congress of Brazil Alessandro Escudero, Brazilian Congress
14:40	Q&A
14:50	Parliamentary spaces and the public  Sophia Psarra   Professor of Architecture and Spatial Design, UCL
15:00	Breakout session  Consider the following questions and identify up to five key conclusions from your discussions: 1. What other examples of public engagement are there on the subject of Parliamentary buildings, and what are the conditions that can either enable or hinder meaningful such engagement?  2. What else could be done about public engagement in relation to the R&R programme? Please consider “public engagement” as widely as you wish, from education activities, to visits, but also actual participation in the political process.
15:20	Summary & reflections
15:30	End

Image

Scaffolding at the Palace of Westminster, July 2017. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

23 February 2022

This seminar will draw from the report Power, Influence and Impact of Senedd Committees that Professor Diana Stirbu developed for the Welsh Parliament, to reflect on what makes for effectiveness in committee work. The seminar will focus on a reflection on how public engagement can enhance committee effectiveness, drawing from practice in the Welsh Parliament (Senedd).

Speakers: Professor Diana Stirbu (London Metropolitan University) and Rhayna Mann (Welsh Parliament / Senedd)

8 December 2021

Centre for Democratic Engagement Postgraduate Researcher Miranda Duffy will present her research findings on how drama techniques can enable 10-11 year olds to connect with democratic ideas and encourage them to embrace the critical thinking and oracy skills that open up access to democratic engagement. 

17 November 2021

The recent consideration of the Bill of Rights in the NIA is a great case study to understand the possibilities public engagement gives to strengthen scrutiny.

This seminar will review how public engagement officers, clerks and outside stakeholders worked together to undertake very extensive public engagement on the Bill, through a wide range of methods; and why ultimately this was particularly important for this Bill, about which the two main communities in NI have very different views.

Louise Close, Caroline Perry, & Eithne Gilligan
Northern Ireland Assembly & Age NI

3 November 2021

Launched by the Parliament of Denmark in 2018, the Citizens’ Initiatives Scheme provides an official platform for Danish citizens to share and gather support for policy initiatives on the understanding that, if an initiative reaches 50,000 verified supporters, it will be debated in Parliament in the same manner as policy motions introduced by MPs. The scheme is unusual among similar systems in being highly automated, relying on existing and widely used online authentication systems, and permitting social media integration.

In this seminar, two officials from the Parliament of Denmark discuss the scheme, its development, its impact and its legal implications.

Speakers

David Kruse Lange is a legal adviser in the Legal Services Office. David was part of the team that developed the Citizens’ Initiative Scheme and is chiefly responsible for its day-to-day operation and for handling relations with a multitude of stakeholders, including the political level, members of the public, and technical service providers.

Anton Høj Jacobsen is a senior legal adviser in the Legal Services Office. Like David, Anton was part of the team that developed the scheme and was mainly responsible for drafting its legal framework, including on the processing in Parliament of successful citizens’ initiatives. He still follows the management of the scheme and is occasionally involved in specific decisions, e.g. on whether an initiative in is compliance with the rules governing the scheme.

28th July 2021

The seminar will introduce the upcoming Global Parliamentary Report (scheduled for publication in Autumn 2021.), explain the project, and provide an overview of major findings. The 2021 Global Parliamentary Report, a joint initiative of the IPU and the UNDP, focuses on public engagement in the work of parliament.

The report draws on original data from over 80 countries, a rich dataset of interviews with 136 parliamentarians and staff around the world, focus groups, surveys of 70 parliaments and input from civil society actors. The report explains why engagement matters, how parliaments engage, and provides strategies and recommendations for how to engage more (and more effectively).

23rd June 2021

Parliaments around the world have recognised the need to actively engage with the people they represent and many parliaments are experimenting with new techniques designed to reach a more diverse range of communities and publics. But how can parliaments facilitate self-determined participation by different groups, including groups that have been historically excluded or ignored by public institutions, or whose rights and interests have been abrogated by parliamentary processes or political power structures?

The recent leadership shown by Australia’s First Nations People to initiate and articulate the Uluru Statement from the Heart – which includes a set of principles designed to shape the future relationship between First Nations Peoples and the Australian Parliament – provides a world-leading example of self-determined parliamentary engagement in action.  This Seminar aims to provide a brief overview of the origins and aims of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and highlight the relevance of this experience for practitioner and researchers interested in improving the self-determined quality of parliamentary public engagement in other jurisdictions.

Dr Gabrielle Appleby is a Professor at the Law Faculty of University of New South Wales (Sydney). She is the Director of The Judiciary Project at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, the constitutional consultant to the Clerk of the Australian House of Representatives and a member of the Indigenous Law Centre. In 2016-2017, Gabrielle worked as a pro bono constitutional adviser to the Regional Dialogues and the First Nations Constitutional Convention that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Professor Megan Davis is a Cobble Cobble woman from the Barrungam nation in south-west Queensland. She is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous and the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law at UNSW. She was elected by the UN Human Rights Council to UNEMRIP in 2017 and currently serves as a UN expert with the UN Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous peoples. Megan was a member of the Referendum Council and the Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples in the Constitution; was an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2011-2016); and she served as the Director of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW from 2006-2016.

Dr Dani Larkin is a Bundjalung, Kungarykany woman from Grafton, New South Wales and a public lawyer and representative of the Senior Dialogue Leadership group for the Uluru Statement From The Heart. She has also been newly appointed as a Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW.  As a legal academic and advocate for constitutional reform and political empowerment of First Nations, her research interests include: Indigenous self-determination and cultural identity, electoral law and policy reform, Indigenous political participation, comparative constitutional law and international human rights.