Seminars

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.

26th May 2021

In this seminar we hear from three speakers involved exciting and innovative public engagement activities within the arts.

Bethan James, Project Coordinator at The Royal Mint Museum. The Royal Mint Museum has created a reminiscence session in the form of a ‘museum in a box’ to contribute to the wellbeing of care home residents during the pandemic. Participants are invited to handle objects fitted with micro-chips, allowing them to access audio content designed to promote wellness and encourage social interaction through reminiscence.

Sylvan Baker is an arts practitioner and researcher. He is Co-Investigator for The Verbatim Formula, which is a People’s Palace Project based at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). He is also a Lecturer in Community Performance and Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD), an Education and Creative Learning associate at the Royal Society of Arts; and Artistic Fellow at QMUL. He can be heard on episode five of the BBC’s Small Axe podcast, speaking about the experiences of Black children in care.

David Harradine is an artist and researcher. He is Professor of Interdisciplinary Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD), and co-Artistic Director of Fevered Sleep, whose projects include the critically acclaimed Men and Girls Dance (2015-Present) and This Grief Thing.

17th February 2021

Sarah Allan The Involve Foundation

In this seminar we’ll hear from Sarah Allan, Head of Engagement at The Involve Foundation (‘Involve’). Sarah will be talking about Climate Assembly UK: the path to net zero held between January and May 2020. This first ever UK-wide citizens’ assembly on climate change was jointly commissioned by six select committees of the House of Commons. Involve led the external team which delivered it.

This interactive seminar will address the development of the assembly, how was delivered, the impact on parliament and others, and future implications. Sarah will be joined by speakers from the UK Parliament and the Climate Change Committee who were involved in different ways with the assembly’s work.

16th December 2020

Nicole Nisbett University of Leeds

In this seminar, Nicole will present an application developed in collaboration with the UK House of Commons to analyse large volumes of text data from digital engagement activities. 

18th November 2020

Gillian Baxendine & Sally Coyne Scottish Parliament

In this interactive seminar, Gillian and Sally will present a change model and give examples of how they have used it in relation to parliamentary engagement.