Civic Competence in Creative Cities: How Digital Innovations Contribute to Durable Democracies
On-site in Tartu 28 July - 7 August, online 12-23 August
The Summer School „Civic Competence in Creative Cities: How Digital Innovations Contribute to Durable Democracies“ will focus on how to use digital innovations in public administrations to unlock and implement civic competence.
The Summer School will consist of an in-person part that takes place in Tartu (28 July - 7 August) and a facultative online part (12 August – 23 August). The Summer School is a unique opportunity for students from around the world to learn about the promises, proliferation, and perils of digital democratic innovations, with a special emphasis on experiences in Estonia, arguably one of the most advanced digital societies in the world. The summer course will focus on learning and reflecting on state-of-the-art academic knowledge on digital democratic innovations, as well as on student research projects on digital innovations in Estonia (particularly in the city of Tartu). The European Capital of Culture 2024 events also allow for ample opportunities for students to experience Estonian culture and acquire skills to present research outcomes in more creative (oral and audiovisual) ways (rather than in the form of a regular academic paper). This Summer Course builds upon experiences we gathered during two successful previous Summer Courses (Building Digital Governance. 2022, and Agile Governance in a Digital Age, 2023).
The online study will take place from August 12 to 23 in the Moodle environment and will consist of three broad thematic blocks - digital representation (electronic elections with an emphasis on Estonia’s experiences with Internet voting) – e-participation (technology-enabled participatory budgeting) and e-deliberation (political participation on electronic platforms, notably social media). The virtual learning will consist of live lectures, video lectures, and independent work with academic resources. Each thematic block will be finalised with a small exam.
The course is supported by the ECePS ERA Chair, that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857622.
| Focus area: | Digital Governance, Public Administration, Politics | Coordinating unit at UT | Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies |
| Study Field: | Politics and Governance in the Digital Age | Course Leader | Prof Vincent Homburg, Professor of e-governance |
| Format | Summer Course | Location | online and in Tartu, Estonia |
| Course dates: | 28 July - 7 August on-site, 12-23 August online | Apply by: | 15 May 2024 |
| ECTS: | 3 (+2 for online part) | Fee: | 700 EUR |
| Study | MA/PhD, advanced BA | Language | English |
Teaching staff
Professor Dr. Vincentius Martinus Franciscus Homburg - full Professor of e- Governance and the holder of the ERAChair of e-governance and digital public services at the Johan Skytte Institute of political studies, University of Tartu
Professor Dr. Joep Crompvoets - full professor Information management in the Public Sector, Public GovernanceInstitute, KU Leuven.
Dr. Mihkel Solvak - Associate professor in technology studies at Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies atUniversity of Tartu
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves - Visiting Professor of Democracy in the Digital Age, Johan Skytte Institute of PoliticalStudies, University of Tartu.
Dr. David Dueñas Cid - Associate Professor at Kozminsky University, Poland.
Dr. Jan Kleiner - Associate professor of Political Science at Masaryk University, the Czech Republic.
Svetlana Bogomolova - Lecturer, Department of media design, Pallas University of Applied Sciences, Tartu, Estonia.
Kertu Vuks - Department of Urban design, head of department, Tartu City.
Junior research fellows in e-Governance, Johan Skytte institute for Political studies, University of Tartu: Art Alishani,Biao He, Logan Emily Carmichael, Bogdan Romanov, Stefan Dedovic
Students from BIP partner universities are nominated by their home universities via the SoleMOVE platform and are exempt from the application fee. Please contact your institute's Erasmus coordinator.
NB! There is a separate social programme for this course which will be announced during July the latest.
Two weeks prior to the start of the programme an information file will be sent to all participants. This file contains the daily schedule and relevant contact information of the programme managers.
Students are responsible for their travel, accommodation and travel insurance (visa arrangements if needed) from their home country to Tartu and back to their home country. It is recommended to visit the Tartu Welcome Centre website and arrival and housing section to find accommodation opportunities.