Seminars

17 September 2024

This Public Engagement Hub seminar will focus on citizen-initiated legislation in Thailand.

Thailand has a provision for civil society organisations (CSOs) to submit legislative proposals to the House of Representatives if they gather a minimum of 10,000 signatures from eligible voters. This is this provision that was used to put forward a bill to address air pollution, known as the Clean Air Act, almost unanimously accepted by the House of Representatives in January 2024.

Following this, a 39-member ad hoc committee was set up to review the seven drafts submitted, including the civil society draft, and consolidate them into a single, cohesive bill that will then be presented to Senate early 2025.

Join us for a conversation that explores a very concrete example of public engagement through the citizen initiative mechanism designed to allow public participation in the legislative process.

This event will take place on Zoom and is open to anyone with an interest in public engagement with parliaments.

The seminar will be presented in English. Translation will be available to/from French.

Find out more and register here.

About the Public Engagement Hub seminar series

This seminar is jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN). The event is part of a series of webinars hosted by the Public Engagement Hub.

Photo by Pixabay. Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

17 July 2024

This Public Engagement Hub seminar will focus on Kenya’s bicameral parliament to lead a reflection on how to institutionalise public engagement practices.

Speaker: Dr Brenda Ogembo, Principal Clerk Assistant and the Deputy Head of the Senate Liaison Office at the Parliament of Kenya

Chair: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira, University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN

Kenya’s constitution sets a number of provisions about public engagement expectations. The seminar – which will primarily focus on the Senate – will share some of its practices in implementing these constitutional provisions while identifying some of the associated challenges.

This event will take place on Zoom and is open to anyone with an interest in public engagement with parliaments.

The seminar will be presented in English. Translation will be available from/to French.

Find out more and register here.

About the Public Engagement Hub seminar series

This seminar is jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN). The event is part of a series of webinars hosted by the Public Engagement Hub.

Image: Parliament of Kenya, The Senate Public Entrance. Courtesy of the Parliament of Kenya.

26 June 2024

Speakers: Matthias Keppel, Head of the Demokratikum – Experience Parliament, Parliament of Austria; Barbara Blümel, Head of the Department Services for Citizens, Parliament of Austria

Chair: Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN)

This IPEN seminar will explore how, as part of the renovation of its building, the Parliament of Austria adopted a highly informative and experience-orientated approach to create an interactive and welcoming new space.

This new space, the Demokratikum – situated at the parliament’s entrance – both welcomes and integrates visitors in the parliament. The seminar will outline the process behind this development and present its core characteristics.

This online seminar will take place in MS Teams and is open to all members of the International Parliament Engagement Network.

Find out more about the network.

Image

The Forum in the Austrian Parliament’s Demokratikum. Copyright: Parlamentsdirektion/Johannes Zinner.

11 June 2024

Presented in Spanish, this seminar is open to IPEN members only.

Speaker: Ana Elorza (Coordinadora FECYT, Oficina C, Congreso de los Diputados, España)

Chair: Eva Campos-Domínguez (Universidad de Valladolid, España)

This IPEN seminar presents the experience of Science and Technology Office, Congress of Deputies (Spain), which provides the parliament with scientific evidence on topics of interest and facilitates dialogue between the scientific community and Members of Parliament.

Ana Elorza will explain the objectives and working method of Science and Technology Office, which is based on scientific evidence – extracted from articles published in scientific journals, interviews with researchers, scientists, and experts, etc. – contextualised, analysed, and summarised in the C Reports through a standardised process (the C Method). The C-Reports are available to all Members of Parliament and the public.  Science and Technology Office emerged from the citizens’ initiative ‘Science in Parliament’ (CeeP), with the close collaboration of FECYT and the COTEC Foundation and the support of the vast majority of Spanish scientific institutions.

IPEN members can also find the details in Spanish in our MS Teams space

Image: Congreso de los Diputados (Madrid, España). Photo by Luis Javier Modino Martínez. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

21 May 2024

This Public Engagement Hub webinar is jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), IPEN and INTER PARES. 

Date and time: Tuesday 21 May (09:00-10:30 GMT+1 / UK time; 10:00-11:30 CEST)

Moderator: Lotte Geunis, INTER PARES

Speakers: Pradip Kahtiwada, Executive Director, Youth Innovation Lab, Nepal; Hanah Lahe, Member of the Riigikogu, Estonia; Andres Lomp, Community Engagement Manager, Parliament of Victoria, Australia; Nerima Wako, Executive Director, SIASA Place, Kenya 
 
Bringing together the perspectives of parliaments and young people, this roundtable considers opportunities and challenges for connecting parliament with ‘digital natives’ born or brought up during the age of digital technology. How can digital natives engage parliaments in efforts towards transparency, accountability and participation? How can parliaments draw upon the skills and know-how of young people to strengthen their practices? 

Join us for a conversation that explores what digital natives have to offer to parliaments and vice versa, how this complements parliaments’ search for efficiency and independence, and what this could look like in practice.

This event will take place on Zoom and is open to anyone with an interest in public engagement with parliaments.

This event will be presented in English. Translation will be available from/to French.

Find out more and register here.

About the Public Engagement Hub seminar series

The event is part of a series of webinars hosted by the Public Engagement Hub, jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN).

15 May 2024

Speakers: Dr Narelle Wood (Senior Education Advisor, Community Engagement, Parliament of Victoria); Natalie Badcock (Community Education & Engagement Manager, Parliament of South Australia)

Chair: Dr Sarah Moulds (University of South Australia and Deputy Chair of IPEN)

This IPEN seminar will explore approaches used by the legislatures of South Australia and Victoria (Australia) to promote more meaningful engagement from teachers in civics, democracy and citizenship teaching.

Narelle Wood will outline how the Parliament of Victoria has partnered with Swinburne University of Technology to use co-design principles in civics and citizenship professional development workshops with teachers. Narelle will share some of the co-design activities, some of the benefits and key learnings from using co-design, and how this work has influenced the education strategy moving forward.

Natalie Badcock will present on contemporary practices around finding and engaging teachers with professional learning in South Australia, and the flow on effect the training has on perceptions of the Parliament. Natalie will also take attendees through a preview of the Parliament’s ‘Top 5 Tips for Teaching Civics & Citizenship’ seminar, which involves interactive elements and stepping into the shoes of a teacher.

This online seminar will take place in MS Teams and is open to all members of the International Parliament Engagement Network.

Find out more about the network.

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Teachers from the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership Teaching Excellence Program participating in a workshop at Parliament Victoria on excursions in the Humanities. Photo courtesy of Parliament of Victoria.

24 April 2024

Speakers: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN); Dr Blagovesta Tacheva (School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds)

Chair: Matt Ringer, Director of Participation, UK House of Commons

This IPEN seminar will discuss barriers that people from seldom heard groups (e.g. low socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities) face to engage with parliament and the type of approaches that parliaments may develop to enhance engagement from these groups.

It will draw on research undertaken in the UK which included focus groups with people from seldom heard groups and interviews with community organisations representatives, as well as parliamentary officials.

Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Blagovesta Tacheva will show the importance of thinking about participation through a holistic approach which values the scaffolding of participatory activities with appropriate education and information resources.

This online seminar is open to all members of the International Parliament Engagement Network.

Find out more about the network.

20 March 2024

For our inaugural IPEN Showcase, we have five speakers who will each speak for five minutes using five presentation slides.

We are delighted to welcome IPEN members Anneke, Emma, Lauren, Matt and Nathaniel – all PhD students from the UK and Australia – who will be giving us an insight into their current research on a range of topics related to parliamentary public engagement:

‘It’s just a respect thing’: Identifying practical ways for the Australian parliament to recognise and value Indigenous languages and their speakers
Anneke Myers, PhD candidate, School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, College of Arts & Social Sciences, Australian National University

Press A to Vote: Exploring political engagement in online roleplaying games to identify real-world opportunities
Emma Brewis, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds

Who speaks and who listens? The ‘Democratic Ecology’ of Parliamentary E-petitions
Lauren Martin, University of Sheffield

Parliamentary public engagement and democratic representation in Australia: a critical realist analysis
Matt Ryan, University of South Australia

Shifting Scrutiny Styles: The Increased Presence of House of Lords Select Committees
Nathaniel Sablan, University of Sheffield

Following the presentations, there will be an opportunity for all participants to ask questions of the speakers and to have a wider discussion of the research themes.

The IPEN Showcase will be chaired by Cristina Leston Bandeira (University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN) and Elise Uberoi (House of Commons Library and Deputy Chair of IPEN).

This online event is open to all members of the International Parliament Engagement Network.

Find out more about the network.

11 March 2024

This Public Engagement Hub seminar will focus on the use of social media by parliaments to boost public engagement, drawing from recent research on the topic.

Speakers: Isabele B. Mitozo (Assistant Professor, Political Science Department, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil); Thales Quintão (Research Fellow, Political Science Department, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Chair:  Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN)

Isabele B. Mitozo and Thales Quintão are well known researchers in this area, providing us with a unique insight into the trends in the use of social media by parliament. 

The seminar will follow an in-conversation format, through which the speakers will discuss challenges and benefits faced by parliament in the use of social media to engage with citizens, as well as identifying trends in the way this use has developed and an overview of current practice.

This event will take place on Zoom and is open to anyone with an interest in public engagement with parliaments.

It will be presented in English. Translation will be available from/to French and Spanish.

Find out more and register here.

About the Public Engagement Hub seminar series

This seminar is jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN). The event is part of a series of webinars hosted by the Public Engagement Hub.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

28 February 2024

Speakers: Alasdair Mackenzie, Education and Engagement Outreach Manager, UK Parliament; Nikki Luke, Senior Education and Engagement Outreach Officer (London), UK Parliament

Chair: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN)

This IPEN seminar will focus on provision from the UK Parliament Outreach service for adults with learning disabilities and young people with special education needs.

Following an overview of the work of their team, Alasdair Mackenzie and Nikki Luke will showcase some of the resources they use for outreach. They will also outline some of the work carried out through researching and setting up sessions with groups with special needs.

This online seminar is open to all members of the International Parliament Engagement Network.

Find out more about the network.

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UK Parliament workshop with Sunderland People First. Photo courtesy of UK Parliament Outreach Team.