Building an International Network for Public Engagement with Parliaments

Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Faculty of Social Sciences

This project aims to develop an international network of parliamentary officials and academics, in order to better understand and promote effective public engagement practice by parliaments. The network will consist of officials and academics specialising in the implementation and/or study of parliamentary public engagement. It will be launched through a one-day workshop in the UK Parliament in April 2020, which will focus on identifying what makes for effective public engagement.

During the workshop, up to 150 participants from around the world will share different parliaments’ activity in public engagement and research on the topic, to discuss how existing practices can be improved and how to capture the impact of public engagement. Discussions will be structured around keynote panels and break-out sessions covering a range of types of public engagement, for example around committees and diversity of publics. Besides dissemination through social media, the workshop’s discussions will be captured by a synopsis, which will identify core areas for the network to explore further and key principles of public engagement. The project will support the travel costs of participants from low income regions. The network will contribute towards enhanced engagement practices, which could result in better trusted and more legitimate parliamentary processes.

More information about the workshop is available here

Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira can be contacted by email: C.Leston-Bandeira@leeds.ac.uk