After the online kick-off event in December, the first real-life consortium meeting took place on Friday 3 June. In the Lochal in Tilburg, Frank Hendriks recalled the idea of a hybrid democratic innovation with two examples: the Irish citizens’ assembly and participatory budgeting in Antwerp (see images). After the opening, the PhD students presented their research ideas for the upcoming years (more information about the PhD projects can be found here), and Hella van de Velde (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations) and Thijs van Mierlo (LSA Bewoners) discussed citizen participation and democratic innovations from their organization’s perspective.

The combination of scientific and societal partners once again resulted in fruitful discussions. We would like to thank all consortium partners for their valuable contribution during the meeting!