Democracy & Policy Network

This deliverable describes the vision, scope, and mission of the Democracy & Policy Network, outlines its structure, activities, driving forces and presents ways for operation beyond the BRRIDGE project. Built on BRRIDGE networking results, the Network transforms the consortium from a time-limited partnership into a sustainable, open-platform collaboration centred on research excellence and democratic values.
The Network was established through a clear pipeline: mapping identified expertise across UoG, EUI, CEU, and UMB. Match-making translated mapped expertise into thematic clusters and working groups via onsite, online, and hybrid formats, across democracy and technology, inequalities, culture, and governance. Networking matured into joint scientific outputs (co-authored publications and manuscripts) and joint proposal development, which expanded cooperation beyond the original consortium. Notably, networking has already resulted in externally financed collaboration, including EMMELO (approved, funded, running since May 2025) and UNVEIL (approved and funded, start January 2026). Sustainability is further supported by the Institute for Democracy at UMB (dual civic + university structure), the Resilient Democracy Colloquium as a regular meeting space, and the COST proposal GUIDE (D1.5) designed to institutionalise and extend the Network’s international outreach.