Author:
Andrea Rotenberg

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, PoliticsCoordinating unit at UTJohan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
Study Field:Politics and Governance in the Digital AgeCourse LeaderProf Vincent Homburg, Professor of e-governance
FormatSummer CourseLocationonline and in Tartu, Estonia
    
Course dates:28 July - 7 August on-site, 12-23 August onlineApply by:15 May 2024
ECTS:3 (+2 for online part)Fee:700 EUR
StudyMA/PhD, advanced BALanguageEnglish

Lecturers:

  • Prof Dr Joep Crompvoets, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
  • Dr David DueñasCid, Kozminsky University, Poland
  • Toomas Hendrik Ilves, University of Tartu, Estonia
  • Dr Mihkel Solvak, University of Tartu, Estonia
  • Prof Dr Vincent Homburg, University of Tartu, Estonia 

 

 

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.

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