<font face="Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><div>Dear all,</div><div>This CfP from <span style="font-size:11.5pt">the
<a href="https://soc.kuleuven.be/centre-for-political-research/demoinno/democratic-innovations-legitimacy-research-group">
Democratic Innovations and Legitimacy Research Group</a> at the KU Leuven below might be of interest to some of you.</div><div>Full link: <a href="https://soc.kuleuven.be/centre-for-political-research/demoinno/files/next-generation/at_download/file" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://soc.kuleuven.be/centre-for-political-research/demoinno/files/next-generation/at_download/file</a> </div><div>Best regards, Alice</div><div> </div><div class="iNotesHistory iNotesForward" style="padding-left:5px;"><div style="padding-right:0px;padding-left:5px;border-left:solid black 2px;"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">On the 10th of June 2021 we (the
<a href="https://soc.kuleuven.be/centre-for-political-research/demoinno/democratic-innovations-legitimacy-research-group">
Democratic Innovations and Legitimacy Research Group</a> at the KU Leuven) are organizing the
<a href="https://soc.kuleuven.be/centre-for-political-research/demoinno/events-1/10-june-2021-early-career-symposium-in-deliberation-research-next-gdc-symposium">
NEXT GDC symposium</a>. We invite Early Career Scholars in the field of deliberation to come together (virtually) for in-depth discussion of ongoing research, panel debates about the state and future of the field and networking.
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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif">Background
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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Concerns about democratic crises abound: lack of democratic legitimacy, uncivil political discourse, societal inequality, populism, polarization, and short termism. Deliberation in its many shapes and forms
 is often considered an answer to these problems. Ranging from participatory processes to deliberative debate styles, deliberative approaches are popular in the quest of improving the (perceived) functioning of democracy. Furthermore, a systemic understanding
 of deliberation has also provided a new lens to understand also traditionally non-deliberative spaces such as protests and social movements as essential parts of the wider deliberative system.

<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Several questions remain: What role can participatory processes play in strengthening democratic outcomes, including equality and (perceived) legitimacy? What is the deliberative quality and impact of political
 communication? How do new forms of decision-making and will-formation connect to existing representative systems? And many more.

<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">We invite both empirical and theoretical work on deliberation, broadly understood. Interdisciplinary work that approaches the field from a psychological, anthropological, sociological, philosophical, or communication
 science perspective is most welcome. 
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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif">Goals

<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">The NEXT GDC symposium aims at bringing together scholars in the wider research field of deliberation and democratic innovation. We specifically target Early Career Scholars, many of whom have had little chance
 in the past year to formally and informally meet their peers, receive feedback on their work and exchange ideas. Specifically, our goals are:

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<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
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<span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif">In-depth feedbac<span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif">k and discussion of research papers (participants will be required to read the papers in their workshops
 and serve as discussants) </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;text-autospace:none">
<span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif">Giving early career scholars a
<span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif">platform for meta-debates
<span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif">about the state and future of deliberation research
</li><li class="Default" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif">Informal connecting
<span style="font-size:11.5pt">to peers in your research field</li></ul>
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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">If you are interested in participating, please send an abstract of 300 words max before the
<span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif">10th of May
<span style="font-size:11.5pt">to <span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato Heavy",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:demoinno@kuleuven.be">demoinno@kuleuven.be</a><span style="font-size:11.5pt">. We strive to include all voices,
 particularly those that are traditionally underrepresented in academia. Please decide for yourself whether you are an Early Career Scholar. There is no participation fee. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us (<a href="mailto:demoinno@kuleuven.be">demoinno@kuleuven.be</a>).

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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">We are looking forward to a productive and fun symposium!

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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">The organizers, 
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<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Hannah Werner & Lisa van Dijk, 

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Lato",sans-serif" lang="NL-BE">Prof. Sofie Marien, Ine Goovaerts, Emma Turkenburg, Wouter Vanbroekhoven
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