School of Social and Political Science

Description

Democratising Futures (DemFutures for short) is an initiative created by PhD students at the University of Edinburgh in 2025, with the aim of creating a space for those asking a shared question: how can our research help build more democratic futures? We bring together diverse perspectives to this shared interest, from deliberative and participatory democracy, to governance and policy to polarisation and populism.

Our research interests include:

• Populism, polarisation, and their impact on the future of democracy.
• Political parties, elections, and representation in changing democratic systems.
• Digital democracy, platforms, and AI, and how they reshape public debate.
• Inclusion, power and inequality: critical, feminist, and decolonial perspectives in democratic politics.
• Democratic innovation, deliberation, and participatory democracy.
• Methods and research design challenges in contemporary democracy studies.
• Public policy, agents, and institutional reform for democratic governance.
• Democratic legitimacy, backsliding, and resilience.

Our Research Team

• Elisabet Vives - PhD Researcher at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, and lead of the Education, Youth and Civic Engagement (EYCE) Hub, London School of Economics (LSE)
• Fernanda Díaz - PhD Researcher at the Law School, University of Edinburgh
• Harriet Simms - PhD Researcher at the School of Innovation and Technology, Glasgow School of Art
• Joanna Sakali - PhD Researcher at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh
• Julen Cocho - PhD Researcher at the University of the Basque Country (EHU)

Events and Activities

• Work in Progress Monthly Sessions - Every final Thursday of the month we invite an early career researcher to present their work at our monthly Work in Progress (WIP) seminars. The series is designed as a space to test and improve an ongoing piece of research through feedback from both a senior scholar or specialised discussant and peers working on related topics. We welcome submissions, so please get in touch if you are interested in presenting your work. We invite presenters through an open call each year.
• Mailing list - Click here to join our mailing list to hear about our upcoming events and open calls.

Social media handles

Linkedin Page - https://www.linkedin.com/company/demfutures

Mailing list - https://forms.gle/xWSpBW4Eufr5JMtPA

Email - demfutures@gmail.com