Two weeks ago, we had a fabulous DEMGES (ÖAW Commission Democracy in Digital Societies) workshop with experts from both the academic and the policy world! The main purpose of the workshop was to discuss our concept of digital hybridization that we’ll submit to Politics & Society soon (led by Jensen Sass). A public lecture by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou from the Center of Capitalism Studies/ London rounded off the inspiring two-day meeting: The price of truth; an interview with Aris can be found on the ÖAW Website (in German). The next steps of the commission are the plannning of the Democracy Labs to be conducted over the next years.

One Democracy Lab will be carried out in synergy with the Inclusive AI Lab in Utrecht, co-led by Payal Arora. The Inclusive AI lab is dedicated to developing more equitable, participatory, and community-led AI systems – with a particular focus on the Global South; or the Majority World. I’m really proud that I’ll be part of this year’s cohort group – together with lots of inspiring academics, developers, NGOs, and practitioners from around the world! Stay tuned, further DEMGES/ Inclusive AI events & activities will be announced soon!