The BRIDGE Consortium Meeting was held in Tartu
On May 26–27, 2025, the BRIDGE project held its first annual consortium meeting in Tartu, Estonia
On May 26–27, 2025, the BRIDGE project held its first annual consortium meeting in Tartu, Estonia, bringing together representatives from all partner institutions: Erasmus University Rotterdam, Technische Universität Berlin, ArTe, Tartu Ülikool, and the Centre for Innovation Development (CID).
The meeting was highly productive, with discussions highlighting the project’s key achievements, including:
- the launch of the course at KSE for teachers and researchers “Capacity-building in methods and application for big data and AI for governance”;
- the launch of the Spring School on Deliberation — the first training course in Ukraine designed to prepare facilitators of citizens’ assemblies;
- informational events in Zviahel, Chernihiv and Kyiv, where representatives of local communities were introduced to the purpose and value of the citizens’ assembly format as a tool for strengthening democracy in Ukraine;
- an open call to host the next citizens’ assembly in Ukraine - previously held only in Slavutych and Zviahel;
- the establishment of a Research Support Unit at KSE to support the full cycle of international project development - from writing grant proposals to enhancing project management and administration at the Kyiv School of Economics.
A key focus of the meeting was the final stage of the municipality selection process. On May 27, the selection committee met to determine which municipality would host the first BRIDGE citizens’ assembly. The competition ran from April 18 to May 19, and as a result, the Zhytomyr municipality was selected. The assembly is scheduled to take place in the fall of 2025.
We sincerely thank the Zhytomyr municipality for their trust, openness to change, and willingness to become a new space for public dialogue in Ukraine.
Beyond summarizing accomplishments, the team also developed a shared vision for the next steps - from supporting municipalities to strengthening the research and educational dimensions at KSE.
The next phase involves active preparation and implementation of the citizens’ assembly in Zhytomyr, as well as several other exciting and practical events that will be announced soon.
We warmly thank the team at the University of Tartu, Dmytro Khutkyy, and Viktoriia Biliaieva for their warm hospitality and excellent organization of the meeting, and all consortium partners for their collaboration, engagement, and meaningful teamwork.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.