Members of the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) have taken the lead on the creation of a new working group to support Spanish speaking parliamentary staff and academics.

Back in March, IPEN organised an online seminar with staff from legislatures in Spain to analyse the situation of parliamentary public engagement in the country.

The seminar brought together staff from various legislatures such as the Parliament of Catalonia, the Basque Parliament, the Parliament of Aragon, the Parliament of Galicia and the Spanish Senate. Representatives of other Spanish parliaments and the coordinators of the Parliamentary Advisory Office in the Congress of Deputies also took part in the meeting.

The seminar was organised by IPEN member Eva Campos-Domínguez (Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Valladolid, Spain) with input from IPEN Chair Cristina Leston-Bandeira (Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds).

Discussions in the meeting revolved around issues such as where Spanish parliaments stand in terms of parliamentary public engagement, and challenges and difficulties encountered by workers.

At the end of the event, the participants agreed to create a Spanish speaking working group, with the support of the parliaments represented in the seminar, to further promote the development of parliamentary public engagement. All the participants agreed on the need to share experiences on the activities they are carrying out in Spain and to lay the foundations for the elaboration of a guide of good practices.

Plans are now under way for the group to meet again to organise its work and define a strategy for its operation.

Eva Campos-Domínguez said:

“This new group aims to share good practices in Spanish parliaments, share experiences and create a space for training and learning to continue advancing in parliamentary public engagement. We welcome other Spanish speaking parliamentary staff and academics to join us for future meetings.”

Cristina Leston-Bandeira said:

“It is great to see IPEN inspiring staff in these parliaments to learn more about parliamentary public engagement and enhance practice further, and we look forward to learning from their own practices.”

For more information about this new work group, please email Eva Campos-Domínguez at [email protected].

Article published: 21 July 2023

Would you like to help the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) expand its reach and learn from more international parliaments?

In the face of populism and political disengagement, parliaments across the world are making efforts to connect with their citizens.

What do these activities look like? Who undertakes them? Where do they take place?

Applications are welcomed for a university-based researcher or university-based knowledge exchange professional to participate in a Parliamentary Academic Fellowship, mapping public engagement in parliaments across the world.

The map of public engagement activities created (similar to this map showing parliaments’ access to academic research) will enable the International Parliament Engagement Network to foster lesson sharing, knowledge exchange and collaborations.

The Parliamentary Academic Fellowship will be hosted by the House of Commons Library, but the successful candidate will work with teams across UK Parliament, including those that work in education, engagement, outreach, petitions and knowledge exchange.

The fellowship will enable different parts of UK Parliament to learn from activities in other parliaments. It will also help IPEN expand its scope, reaching new parliaments and offering IPEN members more opportunities for collaboration and learning.

Ideally, you would be working with us 60% of your time for one year, but we can be flexible about these arrangements. You will be able to shape the project and have access to existing networks.

The Parliamentary Academic Fellowship Scheme is run by the Knowledge Exchange Unit in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). The Scheme gives university-based researchers and university-based knowledge exchange professionals the opportunity to participate in a fellowship project with an office in Parliament.

More information including how to apply can be found here.

Deadline for applications: 25 June 2023.

Article published: 3 May 2023

Postgraduate student Emma Brewis was recently selected for an internship to build the new global Public Engagement Hub, a partnership with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Parliament Engagement Network.

The International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) was set up in 2020 as a collaboration between the Centre for Democratic Politics at the University of Leeds and the UK House of Commons.

Founded and chaired by Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira from the School of Politics and International Studies, IPEN’s key goal is to promote collaboration between academics and practitioners in the understanding of public engagement with parliament. The network brings together over 300 academics, parliamentary officials and third sector representatives from over 30 countries across the world.

In May 2022 IPEN started to co-host the Public Engagement Hub of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), with its Centre for Innovation in Parliament (CIP). Established in 1889, the IPU is a global organisation that facilitates parliamentary diplomacy and empowers parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development around the world.

Funded by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the internship will give Emma Brewis access to and experience with the international organisation of parliaments, IPU, besides supporting the development of IPEN.

Emma Brewis is in the first year of an ESRC-funded 1+3 PhD as part of the White Rose Doctoral Training programme. Based at the University of Leeds, Emma’s internship runs from January to August and she will be supervised by Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira alongside Andy Richardson from the IPU.

Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN, said:

“We are extremely proud of Emma to have secured such a prestigious internship. It is a testament of her academic achievements.”

Andy Richardson, Programme Manager, Parliamentary Standards and Knowledge at the IPU, said:

“Emma’s internship will extend the partnership between IPU and IPEN on public engagement. We are looking forward to her contribution to sharing good practices and strengthening the global community on public engagement in the work of parliament.”

Having graduated with a Masters’ degree in Conflict, Development and Security from the University of Leeds, Emma is mid-way through a MA in Social Research (the first step of her 1+3 PhD programme). Emma’s research interests are focused around democratic processes and civic engagement in multiplayer online video and game /digital spaces.

Emma said of the internship and her research:

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work with the IPU and IPEN to be involved in inspiring work supporting public engagement. I’m so excited to be surrounded by experts in the area internationally and am looking forward to being a part of the work on the Public Engagement Hub.

“My PhD research will be exploring democratic processes – specifically participation and engagement – in online multiplayer game spaces. I’m particularly interested in how and why engagement is so high in online role-playing elections and individuals are so motivated to take part in these processes.

“Through my research and the internship, I am hoping to learn something about gaming environments and gamers to inform public engagement strategies and/or understand further how games may be a part of this.”

Read about the partnership between the Inter-Parliamentary Union and International Parliament Engagement Network, and the Public Engagement Hub.

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Emma Brewis on graduation day at the University of Leeds, March 2022.

Article published: 23 March 2023

On 19 July, IPEN was awarded a runner-up prize at the Engaged for Impact awards, in the category of Building Partnerships and Networks. The Engaged for Impact awards, hosted by the University of Leeds, were founded to celebrate the research impact journey: the work, ideas, and challenges that go into it. 

The prize we received acknowledges IPEN’s achievements in collaboration, achieving shared objectives, and working across institutional boundaries. These achievements reflect the founding principles of IPEN. Today, our network encompasses over 250 members in 30 different countries. The value of this network has been demonstrated through numerous workshops and conferences, collaborative projects, and successful funding bids.

We offer our congratulations to the first-place winners of the award (Building networks with supermarkets to assess healthy and sustainable consumer diets). We also congratulate everyone in the IPEN network, without whom our runner-up prize, and the work that it celebrates, would not have been possible.

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Photo courtesy of @A_Beresford

Article published: 2 September 2022

We’re very pleased to extend an invitation to IPEN members to the official launch of the third Global Parliamentary Report – Public engagement in the work of parliament – produced by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the UN Development Programme.

The Report analyses why public engagement matters, and how parliaments are engaging with the communities they represent. It outlines trends and strategic priorities for better and deeper engagement in the future, as well as detailed case studies and practical guides for participatory, inclusive and responsive parliaments. Some of you may remember that IPEN hosted a seminar last year which introduced the main findings of the report.

Members of the IPEN team (including Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Temitayo Odeyemi, and Alex Prior), as well as the wider IPEN network (including Isabele Mitozo, Maya Kornberg and Sven Siefken), were closely involved in planning and researching the Global Parliamentary Report. The Report is now available for download from the IPU website. 

The launch event is taking place online on 30-31 May; you can register for the event here.

Article published: 11 May 2022

IPEN is very excited to announce the launch of its very own online escape room game. Our online escape room game is aimed at teams that wish to do an activity around the theme of public engagement, to enhance understanding of key principles for effective public engagement.

The game is free to play, we simply ask that you report back with your feedback on the game. The game has been developed as a team-building exercise, which can be used as an icebreaker on a team away day, for example, or as part of a workshop.

Find out more here.

Article published: 10 May 2022

We are very pleased to announce that at the end of May 2022, IPEN will start to co-host the Public Engagement Hub of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), with its Centre for Innovation in Parliament (CIP), as one of its thematic hubs.

The purpose of the hub is to support peer learning and knowledge exchange about public engagement in parliament, and to assist parliaments to further develop their public engagement activities. It is intended to form a community of parliamentary staff working in different areas of public engagement, where they can share good practices, exchange knowledge, questions and challenges, and gather new ideas for improving their work. 

The scope of the hub is global. It brings together parliaments of all kinds, different in size, resources, geographical region and political system, and speaking different languages. The exchange of experience can contribute to enhancing public engagement practices in various parliaments across the globe.  

The main target audience is parliamentary staff. Participants are expected to include staff of national and sub-national parliaments, as well as practitioners, academics and civil society organizations. Participation in the hub is also open to any person with a professional interest in public engagement in parliaments.  The hub draws on and expands the examples, findings and recommendations of the Global Parliamentary Report 2022 

The hub pays particular attention to parliaments with limited resources to help them make strategic decisions on what they can and cannot do within available human and financial resources. 

The hub has a very practical focus, delving into the “what” and “how” of public engagement based on the experience of parliaments around the world. 

We’re just getting started and will provide more information on this exciting new collaboration and our upcoming activities soon!

Article published: 9 May 2022

On 26th March 2021 IPEN hosted the Public Engagement and its Impact on Parliaments virtual conference.

This was a jam-packed day split between hubs in Australia, Europe, and Brazil. The conference website includes programme details and information about sessions in each hub.

Read a write-up of the conference and take a look of the collaborative public engagement toolkit developed during the Europe hub.

Article published 13 May 2021

During our Public engagement and its impact on parliaments conference in March 2021, 60 participants attended an interactive session to explore principles and challenges of public engagement, with a view of establishing a toolkit on public engagement. 

This toolkit is structured around three key questions;

Article published: 13 May 2021