A network brainstorms and promotes democracy research in several disciplines
In September, the network met in a kick-off workshop, which showed that at the initial phase, around 100 researchers had already joined the network. The members represent all faculties and career stages from research assistants to professors.
“The aim is to bring people together to get to know each other and to learn about ongoing research. Meeting each other can lead to new collaborations and research ideas,” says Postdoctoral Research Fellow Anni Jäntti, a member of the organising team.
According to Jäntti, the scientific community has paid heed to the many different perspectives and multidisciplinary approaches to democracy research at Tampere University. While the focus of democracy studies is traditionally on the fields of politics, governance and society, the idea of the network is to highlight diverse dimensions of democracy.
The network brings together researchers whose main research topic is democracy as well as those whose work is related to democracy and who are interested in the phenomenon.
“This shows how broad the phenomenon is. New areas have begun to emerge in places where previously no need to consider the democracy angle existed,” Jäntti says.
As an example, Jäntti cites the democracy issues arising from technological developments. The changes of citizenship are another emerging theme.
The network seeks to arrange activities that are based on the members’ interests and ideas. An eight-person organising team will coordinate the launch of the network in the first year.
Future events will include monthly morning coffees for democracy researchers, an info session on research funding, a mini-conference, and a multidisciplinary Studia Generalia lecture series on democracy research. The network’s main communication channel is the Teams group TG-democracy-network, which members of the university community can join.
The network is open to all those interested in and working on democracy research at Tampere University.
Enquiries:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Anni Jäntti, tel. +358 50 437 7188, anni.jantti [at] tuni.fi
