The team behind the Deliberative Democracy Lab
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The Deliberative Democracy Lab is a platform for exchanging ideas, where community representatives, researchers, and practitioners work together to develop recommendations on introducing deliberative instruments in Ukraine. Today we introduce the team behind this format.
Oleksandra Keudel — Associate Professor and Vice-Dean for Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, Director of the Centre for Democratic Resilience, KSE. Oleksandra researches democratic transformations and societal resilience in Ukraine. She initiated the Lab in a Policy Lab format. At the third meeting she set out how deliberative and representative democracy work together — the logic that shapes the shared document the participants are drafting.
Kerstin Lücker — Head of Technology and Participation at the Technical University of Berlin, one of BRIDGE's partner institutions. Her expertise lies in public participation and digital tools in deliberative processes. Kerstin helps participants see how Ukrainian experience fits into the wider European context of democratic innovations and experimental formats. This time she ran a session on bringing in a breadth of expertise so that high-quality recommendations can emerge from the information gathered.
Illia Tkachenko — Research Coordinator of the BRIDGE project, Centre for Democratic Resilience, KSE. Illia is also a PhD candidate, researching democratic transformations and processes at the level of urban communities and neighbourhoods. Together with Tetiana Terletska, he plans and runs the Lab. Illia focuses on enabling collective learning among participants, the logic of drafting shared recommendations, and co-moderating the meetings.
Tetiana Terletska — Operational Director of the NGO 'Centre for Community Development and Cooperation' and Adviser to the Centre for Democratic Resilience at KSE. Together with PAUCI, she ran the citizens' panel in Konotop in 2024 — the first application of a deliberative format in Ukraine. Tetiana contributes substantially to planning the Lab, shares the experience gained in Konotop, brings in partners, and co-moderates the meetings.
We are already preparing for the fourth meeting, so there will be more to share. Follow for updates.
The Deliberative Democracy Lab is a platform for exchanging ideas and experiences with the aim to identify effective adaptations of international deliberative practices to the Ukrainian context. The Lab’s ultimate goal is to develop recommendations for the effective integration of deliberative democracy into Ukraine’s public participation system.