January, 2024
January, 2024
Hello 2024! We are honored to be featured twice this month on CORDIS EU! Read also about our Final ISEED Conference happening this June in Brussels. Find out about the article newly published by Magdalena Roszczyńska-Kurasińska and presented at the HICSS Conference. You can also take a sneak peek at the ISEED Policy Brief Series which is soon to be released.
Action
ISEED Project featured on CORDIS EU!
The ISEED project got featured on CORDIS EU research results, including the reflections of project leader Eleonora Montuschi, in a wonderful article.
The article covers ISEED efforts in researching how the public can be inspired to actively participate in politics, by developing tools and strategies to bring together citizens and policymakers in pursuit of cooperative decision-making.
We are also honoured to be featured among a set of innovative EU actions developing insights, tools and best methods for connecting citizens with democracy. The ‘New tools and insights to better connect citizens with democracy’ Results Pack features fifteen Horizon-funded projects exploring contemporary democratic challenges and investigating innovative approaches to support citizens engagement in democratic processes.
Events
ISEED Final Conference in Brussels
ISEED members will meet for our Final Conference in Brussels, Belgium. The event will happen on the 11th and 12th of June 2024, sharing our research outcomes, also with a broader public and relevant stakeholders. We answer some questions about this important event.
What will be done at the event?
The ISEED final conference will review and invite reflection on the achievements of the ISEED project. We have been working to understand the challenges of polarisation, disaffection and exclusion that affect European democracies today, and how and whether public inclusion in science-based knowledge discussion and development can foster participation and collaboration in Europe.
The conference will collect and present our key research outputs, innovative technical tools, our case-study outcomes, and share insights from our multi-stakeholder workshops. A special part of the programme will be devoted to the recommendations shared in our policy brief series.
What are the preparations for the event?
The programme for the two days is under development but expect a discussion of the citizen science initiatives we have been following as well as deep philosophical conversations around what it is to foster inclusive participation in European democracies today. The meeting will take place at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Brussels meeting space.
What to expect from the event?
Expect an engaged and multifaceted discussion of how citizen science can support and in turn be supported by participatory democracies in Europe.
Stay tuned and follow up on what the event will bring!
Research
Integrating Wearable Sensors into Smart Cities
This January, the article “Challenges and Future Directions for Integrating Healthcare Wearable Sensors into Smart Cities and Communities” was published on ScholarSpace, of the University of Hawaiʻi as part of the Smart and Connected Cities and Communities collection. The authors team features ISEED work-package leader Magdalena Roszczyńska-Kurasińska from the University of Warsaw.
The paper explores the challenges related to implementation of wearable sensors, in the context of smart cities and health and wellbeing citizen science projects, that are increasingly used in clinical and public-health interventions, for early symptom identification, performance alerts, and real-time monitoring.
While usage of health trackers can be framed as a unique form of citizen science in which individuals employ empirical methods to explore and investigate their own health-related inquiries, with well-knows opportunities and benefits, this article wants to highlight risks and challenges related to their implementation. Based on the existing literature and lessons learned from EU-funded projects, authors share insights from integrating wearable sensors into the smart city fabric.
Would like to learn more on the subject? You can read the full article here!
Action
ISEED Policy Brief Series
The ISEED Policy Brief Series “Promoting Deliberative Participation in Europe” has been designed to speak to the range of topics that this research project engaged with, aiming to address the interests of policy stakeholders in as concrete a manner as our research allows for. The work, now under review, engages with a range of issues including:
‘Working with Rationality and Emotions in Democratic Deliberation’, sharing insights on how to facilitate authentic communication, inclusion and active listening in democratic forum, by recognizing the role of emotions, affects and personal experiences in shaping the flow of deliberative engagements;
‘Valuing Citizen Engagement in Science Governance’, proposing an inclusive and participatory approach to decision-making, through the overcoming of a naïve model of neutral and top-down type of expertise and by endorsing a model of decision making that includes the contribution of citizens as providers of potentially valuable knowledge;
‘Enhancing Understanding of Science Through Science Clubs’, recommending the formation of educational hubs dedicated to fostering a scientific culture that works for the benefit of local communities, based on the successful Uruguayan Science Clubs phenomenon.
Got interested? Stay tuned for the official release of ISEED Policy Brief Series “Promoting Deliberative Participation in Europe” that will be announced in our channels and Newsletter! Subscribe now!
Text: Chiara Lovati, Magda Roszczyńska-Kurasińska, Sarah Santos and Sophia Efstathiou
Edit: Chiara Lovati, Sarah Santos and Sophia Efstathiou
Images: European Union; Sergio Otoyo; Sabina; Sarah Santos
Last updated: 08/02/2024
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