How KSE University is implementing the BRIDGE international project

The KSE team continues to coordinate the international consortium BRIDGE (Building Resilient Innovations in Democracy, Governance and Excellence) — a project funded by the Horizon Europe research and innovation program and implemented in cooperation with leading universities: Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands), TU Berlin (Germany), University of Tartu (Estonia), and the Center for Innovation Development (Ukraine).

Over the course of 16 months, the BRIDGE team has strengthened KSE’s research and institutional capacity and taken practical steps to advance deliberative democracy in communities and the public sector.

The team has established official cooperation with national and local authorities, including the Department of Information and Public Communication of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Zhytomyr City Council, and the Zviahel City Council.

The Spring School of Deliberation was launched as the first educational program for facilitators of public assemblies. 

In partnership with the Zhytomyr City Council and TU Berlin, the team implemented the first Citizens’ Assembly among Ukraine’s regional centers. This mechanism engages residents selected by sortition in decision-making through structured deliberation and consensus-building.

During the two-day intensive Urban Data Hackathon: Code the City, participants developed digital solutions to enhance accessibility and analyze citizens’ appeals using open data, in partnership with DICT and through cross-faculty collaboration between the social sciences and computer science departments.

Project representatives participated in conferences and seminars in Lviv, Rome, Berlin, Regensburg, Warsaw, and Brussels.

Alongside these activities, KSE launched its International Projects Office to support researchers in expanding their academic presence and building joint initiatives with international partners. Over the past year alone, the Office has supported 64 grant applications and currently accompanies dozens of active research projects.

Together with the University of Tartu, KSE introduced a three-month training program for faculty and researchers, focusing on integrating AI and big data tools into research and teaching. The program included a study visit to Estonia. Additional training sessions were delivered for managers and grant writers to strengthen KSE’s administrative capacity.

Recently, the project successfully passed its interim reporting to the European Commission, marking the midpoint of its implementation. Representatives of the granting authority provided positive feedback on the project’s progress, noting that it could serve as a learning case for future Horizon Europe and other EU–Ukraine collaborative projects.

The BRIDGE team is now preparing for the Deliberative Democracy Lab (Policy Lab) — a platform where, from February to July 2026, researchers and practitioners will jointly develop methodological recommendations for communities and experts.

The BRIDGE project demonstrates how KSE’s research results are translated into practical solutions for cities, communities, and public institutions.