iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

🤖 New OA paper: "Fake Plastic Voters": do AI-simulated focus groups work? And when political actors should and shouldn't use them? @claudionovelli.bsky.social A decision matrix for practitioners navigating a real democratic accountability gap. 👇 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

papers.ssrn.com

Fake Plastic Voters: When Political Parties Can Use AI-Simulated Focus Groups

Political parties strive to understand their electorates, and focus groups are a vital tool in these efforts. AI-enhanced simulation technologies (AESTs) enable

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

🤖 What happens when AI runs for office? New paper out on ORE, we examine 10 AI-driven candidates & parties across 8 countries and ask what "synthetic political actors" mean for democracy, representation, and political linkage. @relink2.bsky.social 👇 open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/6-138

open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

EU leaders are in Cyprus for geopolitics. I'm also flying there, but to put citizens at the centre! 🗣️🇪🇺 Taking part in the 2nd @eu-ciembly.bsky.social pilot: a bilingual 🇬🇧🇨🇾 citizens' assembly on housing, in Nicosia. First session was yesterday. In-person: this Saturday. Stay tuned! #CitizensAssembly

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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 22/04/2026

Overall social media use is also declining. Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans — especially the youngest (18–24) and oldest (65+) — report using no social media at all. A small group of heavy users remains, but the middle is thinning out.

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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 22/04/2026

📉 Visiting and posting on X and Facebook has collapsed: nearly 50% drop! On X, it is mostly Democrats who have become inactive. Many still occasionally log on, but rarely and quietly.

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Petter Törnberg @pettertornberg.com · 22/04/2026

In a nutshell, the ANES data shows: 📉 Social media use is shrinking; engagement collapsing 💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~70 POINTS to the right 🧩 Platforms are splintering 🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme

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RELINK2 @relink2.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Two productive days in Kaunas, Lithuania, on 19–20 March 2026 at the COST Action ReLink² WG2 meeting and joint workshop hosted by Vytautas Magnus University. Great discussions on research methods, the Ethics Guidebook, the Methodological Toolkit, and collaboration across Working Groups.

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jasfitzpatrick.bsky.social @jasfitzpatrick.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

What a beautiful day and location to talk about #AI and #democracy. I will focus on efficacy and technology acceptance in my talk. #UV #Valencia @ramonv.bsky.social @giuliasandri.bsky.social @michalmaly.bsky.social

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Sofia is calling 📍 Applications are open for the @relink2.bsky.eu Training School — 29 June to 3 July 2026 at New Bulgarian University, Sofia. Up to 15 funded spots for ECR working on digital democracy and civic engagement. 🔗 relink2.eu/news/call-for-applications-relink²-training-school-2026/

relink2.eu

Call for Applications: Relink² Training School 2026 – RELINK2 – CA23114

Applications are now open for the Relink² Training School , which will take place from 29 June to 3 July 2026 at New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria . O

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

🚀 Our Open Research Europe collection @relink2.bsky.social “RELINK for Democracy” is live! 3 peer-reviewed papers published & submissions open. ✅ No APCs for COST participants ✅ Open peer review 🔗 relink2.eu/news-events/ #OpenScience

relink2.eu

News & Events – RELINK2 – CA23114

Stay up to date with the latest developments from the RELINK² network. This section features news, upcoming events, meeting highlights, training opportunities,

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DG MEME @ecmemes.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

A simpler life...

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I’m participating with @ecas to #CivSocWeek 2026 in Brussels this week 🇪🇺We’re organising panel discussions and hosting a booth to exchange on citizen engagement and democratic innovation. If you’re attending, come say hello and join the conversation!

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European Journal of Political Research @ejprjournal.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

🌀 🌀 🌀 This month, we’re spreading the love with @ecprtheloop.bsky.social by highlighting blog posts that speak directly to EJPR research. Watch for our 🌀 posts all through March—and don’t forget to explore our archive as well! buff.ly/FcakDWM

theloop.ecpr.eu

EJPR Archives

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

On Saturday I facilitated a workshop at the @eu-ciembly.bsky.social #ColchesterCitizensAssembly together with my @ecas-europe.bsky.social colleague Claire Morot-Sir. Using empathy mapping, participants explored lived experiences of housing and translated them into concrete policy ideas.More to come!

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EU-CIEMBLY @eu-ciembly.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

We’re diving deep into solutions at the #ColchesterCitizensAssembly! 🛠️ Today’s workshops focus on Empathy Mapping, stepping directly into the shoes of our community to truly understand their lived experiences and tackle the real issues head-on.

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EU-CIEMBLY @eu-ciembly.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

The first-ever Colchester Citizens' Assembly has officially begun! 🎉 We are excited to get these vital conversations underway today. Keep an eye on this feed and make sure to check out our other EU Ciembly social accounts for updates! #ColchesterCitizensAssembly #EUCiembly

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Happy to be @Univ. of Essex to facilitate the local citizen assembly pilot on housing issues within the framework of our @eu-ciembly.bsky.social Horizon Europe project.The pilot will implement our intersectional design for citizens’ participation in public decision-making @ecas-europe.bsky.social

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Nice video on the ACTEU (Towards a new era of representative democracy- Activating European Citizens' Trust in Times of Crises and Polarization) Horizon Europe project results !

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Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) @tepsa.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

🔬 After three years of research and as the #ActEU project draws to an end, the project researchers look back on some key successes, but also on what made them possible: the methodology, the organisation of the consortium, and the innovations introduced ⤵️ youtu.be/mLYW9TfuDQM

youtu.be

Reflecting on ActEU - Key takeways from the project

YouTube video by Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA)

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Andreas Jungherr @ajungherr.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Deceptive AI uses (e.g., deepfakes, impersonation, interactive astroturfing) are consistently seen as violating norms of legitimate political competition, while operational and outreach uses are evaluated more ambivalently. 4/

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Andreas Jungherr @ajungherr.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Our first contribution is conceptual: we identify three analytically distinct types of AI use in election campaigns - Campaign operations - Voter outreach - Deception This set accounts for the wide variety of AI use in campaigning and moves the debate beyond its myopic focus on deepfakes. 2/

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Andreas Jungherr @ajungherr.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Political campaigns worldwide experiment with AI. But how do people see different electoral uses of AI and with what consequences? In a new study in @polcommjournal.bsky.social with @adrauc.bsky.social and @kunkakom.bsky.social, we address these questions. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/

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Andreas Jungherr @ajungherr.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

We are starting to see strong work identifying how and to what effect AI is used in campaigns. See work by @florianfoos.bsky.social , @giuliasandri.bsky.social, @meinungsfuehrer.bsky.social, @pjost.bsky.social, and @profkatedommett.bsky.social. 11/

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PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

And @sarahledoux.bsky.social's main story in this month's newsletter 🗞️ is on regulating copyrighted data for AI training and how India 🇮🇳 is taking on this task, with a comparison to limited efforts in the EU 🇪🇺 and US 🇺🇸 Link to the newsletter again: technologypolicy.substack.com/p/the-tip-ne...

technologypolicy.substack.com

The TIP Newsletter: the Cloud in the age of AI, Regulation trends beyond the West, & more!

Hello TIPers,

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PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

As usual, we love to share our members' achievements 🏆 In this newsletter we give shoutouts to @niamhcashell.bsky.social, Khadiza Laskor, @sharonhalevaamir.bsky.social and @ingaulnicane.bsky.social!

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PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Our newsletter is really packed this month! We also give you the scoop 🍦on our last two events, with a summary of our conference with @psampg.bsky.social in Bournemouth and the recording of our last book talk on content moderation across jurisdictions! technologypolicy.substack.com/p/book-talk-...

technologypolicy.substack.com

Book Talk: The Politics of Platform Regulation with Robert Gorwa

Robert Gorwa in Conversation with Daniel G.B. Weissmann, discusses his book 'The Politics of Platform Regulation: How Governments Shape Online Content Moderation' and their associated work.

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PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Our January newsletter is out! ❄ technologypolicy.substack.com/p/the-tip-ne... We're particularly excited to invite you to our upcoming event with @ceciliarikap.bsky.social on 25 Feb 3pm GMT, where she will present her findings on the Cloud ☁️ in the age of AI 👉 www.tickettailor.com/events/techn...

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PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

The MPG x TIP conference in Bournemouth is a go! We've already had a fantastic keynote by Susan Banaducci and now we're onto the first wave of panels! @psampg.bsky.social

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Maximilian Henning @maximilian-henning.eurosky.social · 07/01/2026

The @ec.europa.eu will soon present “a combination of funding and policy measures” to support European open source projects in becoming commercially viable alternatives to proprietary US tech. Read my article at @euractiv.com: www.euractiv.com/news/commiss...

euractiv.com

Commission wants to commercialise open source for sovereignty | Euractiv

An incoming strategy looks set to target support at European open source projects to scale into commercial alternatives to US tech

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Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

📢 Happy that the Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication has just been published ! Have a look at my chapter on “Digital Intra-Party Democracy,” on how digital tools & AI are reshaping internal party processes and political participation. Link to my entry 👉🏻 www.elgaronline.com/display/book...

elgaronline.com

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Mark Sewards MP @markjsewards.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Goodbye AI Mark! The experiment has ended. Big thank you to my constituent, Jeremy Smith, for his voluntary work on the first-ever AI MP. I’ve written some initial thoughts on the universally-loved virtual version of myself: www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

politicshome.com

What ‘AI Mark’ taught me about the realities of the new technology

In a future that no one asked for, but many predicted, I took the plunge and turned myself into the first AI MP.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

At LMU Munich @lmumuenchen.bsky.social, the team identifies administrative “Achilles’ heels” and develop proposals for adaptive responses. Team: C. Knill @cknill.bsky.social, A. Lenz @alexalenz.bsky.social, F. Findeisen, D. Zink @dionyszink.bsky.social .

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

At the University of Oslo @uio.no, we map how growing rule volumes reshape public administration: who implements what, and how responsibilities shift. Team: Y. Steinebach, M. Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social , M. Povitkina @mpovitkina.bsky.social, L. Gulli, M. Imran, T. Molde.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Södertörn Uni. @sodertornshogskola.bsky.social studies how rule-offsetting schemes work, combining theory, coding, and interviews with policymakers & civil society. Goal: effective and legitimate rule design. Team: Brigitte Pircher @brigittepircher.bsky.social , Miranda Thulin, Swapnil Vashishtha.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

The University of Barcelona @ub.edu team turns archives, APIs, web-scraped material, and legal documents into machine-readable data using text-as-data and NLP — building a dataset on rule growth across the EU. Team: Xavier Fernández-i-Marín, David García García @davidgg.bsky.social , Prachee Arora.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

What brings the SUPA scholars together? Turning laws into data to ask why rules multiply, how to streamline without hurting democracy, and how to help policymakers make sense of it. In the posts below ⬇️👇🔽 we show how each partner tackles a different angle. It really fits together, doesn’t it? 💡

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

The European Citizen Action Service @ecas-europe.bsky.social connects the project to citizens, helping us understand how rule growth affects everyday life. Team: Giulia Sandri @giuliasandri.bsky.social, Claire Morot‑Sir, Nicolò Triacca.

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jasfitzpatrick.bsky.social @jasfitzpatrick.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

After 2 intense with academics & practioners, here are my takeaway messages: 1. People do not care about technology but purpose. 2. Digital tools must feel natural. 3. Barriers might be simpler than you think. #Relink2 @lucaskins.bsky.social @hendriknahr.bsky.social @giuliasandri.bsky.social

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jasfitzpatrick.bsky.social @jasfitzpatrick.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

How can we bettet connect citizens, political organizations, and public institutions through digital technologies? On my way to Brussels again... #Relink2 #CA23114 #BrIAS @ramonv.bsky.social @giuliasandri.bsky.social @lucaskins.bsky.social brias.be/index.php/ev...

brias.be

Citizens, Political Organisations and Digital Technologies: Disconnection or/and Reconnection? – The Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

The SUPA project has a new webpage! 🌐 👉 www.supa.uio.no/english/inde... There you’ll find: 🌍 project background & goals 👩‍🔬 team members & institutional partners 📢 news, events & publications (with more coming soon!) Check it out — and let us know what you think!

supa.uio.no

SUPA.html - Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies

Read this story on the University of Oslo's website.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Tired of ‘red tape’? UK planning reforms echo past failures like the "one-in, three-out" scheme. One of our rerearches in progress shows why they fail: ➡️ Narrow Focus ➡️ Weak Enforcement ➡️ Political Reality Result? Rules keep growing. Lasting reform needs smarter governance for true growth. #SUPA

gov.uk

Bureaucratic burden lifted to speed up building in growth agenda

The government has confirmed further reforms to overhaul the planning system and put growth at the heart of the statutory consultee system.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

📈 More laws, more policies, more regulations. But administrations aren’t growing at the same pace 🚨 This mismatch risks poor services, unequal treatment & frustration. That’s where #SUPA comes in: from 2025–2028, we’ll study how to improve rule design & strengthen modern democracies 🏛️✨

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EU-CIEMBLY @eu-ciembly.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

We’re excited to share that our empirical research from Work Package 3 of the EU-CIEMBLY project is now accessibly on Zenodo! 👉 Explore the datasets and explanatory note here: zenodo.org/communities/...

zenodo.org

Search EU-CIEMBLY-Creating an Inclusive European Citizens' Assembly

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EU-CIEMBLY @eu-ciembly.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

📢Join Us at Cyprus Forum – October 1–3 2025! 📢 🕥 Our Session: October 3, 10:25–11:25 💡 Title: Power to the People: Unleashing the Future of Citizen Democracy 🔗 Reserve your seat now: 2025.cyprusforum.cy #cyprusforum2025 #citizendemocracy #europe #events #HorizonEurope

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