Democrat-Horizon Agora Blog

Conference on Education for Democracy
2025-11-20 00:00 - 2025-11-21 23:59 (Europe/Madrid) | University of Barcelona, Diagonal, 690-696, Barcelona, 08034, Spain
Event Overview
The DEMOCRAT conference on Education for Democracy aims to contribute to the debate about the role of civic education, and in particular democratic education, in fostering the resilience of the EU model of democracy.
Democracy is conceived not only as a political order, but also as a means of making collective, binding decisions in everyday life. Democracy is not a natural order. It has been achieved through social movements over the centuries and must be learnt and experimented with continuously in everyday life.
We believe that Education for Democracy can be implemented in schools and educational institutions not just through civic education classes, but as a distinctive pedagogical approach that acknowledges aesthetic, embodied and mutual learning, as well as co-creation.

Click here for the conference programme and more details.
Event Details
📅 Dates: November 20-21, 2025
📍 Venue: Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat d’Economia i Empresa
📍 Address: Diagonal, 690-696, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
🎯 Focus: Education for Democracy, Civic Education, Democratic Citizenship
Key Focus Areas:

Democratic citizenship education as a holistic pedagogical approach
Aesthetic, embodied, and mutual learning methodologies
Co-creation and bottom-up educational innovation
Grassroots initiatives in democratic education
Policy frameworks supporting educational transformation

Who Should Attend

Educators & Teachers seeking innovative democratic education approaches
Educational Researchers focused on civic and democratic education
Policymakers involved in educational policy development
NGO Representatives working in civic education and democracy
Students & Young Leaders interested in democratic participation
Government Officials from education departments

Registration & Participation
Register Now: https://www.activacongresos.com/forms/democracy/

This conference represents a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research, practical innovations, and policy discussions that will shape the future of democratic education in Europe and worldwide.
Organizers & Support
Funded by: The European Union (Horizon Europe Programme)
Supported by: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament d’Educació i Formació Professional
In Collaboration with: Universitat de Barcelona
Collaborators:

AECED Project: The AECED project aims to enhance democracy through a research-based, innovative aesthetic and embodied pedagogical framework that fosters democratic attitudes, values, and active citizenship by enabling experiential, reflective learning that deepens awareness of self and others, nurtures ethical impulses, and promotes new ways of seeing and relating democratically.
Critical ChangeLab Network: Critical ChangeLab aims to build a resilient European democracy by empowering young people to envision and act on alternative democratic futures through civic interventions, using a flexible, arts- and technology-based democratic pedagogy grounded in a bottom-up approach that fosters ownership of everyday democracy and drives justice-oriented transformation, implemented by partners in 9 EU countries and tested across 15.

Democracy Talk 24: Critical Change Lab | Exploring youth engagement with emerging ecosocial challenges
2025-07-16 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 24th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, July 16th, 2025, at 3pm CET! 🗓️

We’re very happy to welcome Laura Malinverni of the University of Barcelona. She will present the project
“Critical Change Lab: exploring youth engagement with emerging ecosocial challenges”.

🌍📚 Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 23: VEU i BOT (SPITEC) Best practices of child and young people participation
2025-06-18 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 23rd Democracy Talk on Wednesday, June 18th, 2025, at 3pm CET! 🗓️
We’re very happy to welcome Andrea Viejo Palacios of the Federation of parent association of students in Catalonia (aFFaC). She will present the project
“VEU i BOT (SPITEC) Best practices of child and young people participation”.
🌍📚 Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 22: The AECED project presents – what is democracy in the process of becoming?
2025-05-21 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for the 22nd Democracy Talk on May 21 2025 where we will speak with Sandra Wallenius-Korkalo & Karen Mpamhanga from the University of Lapland & the University of Hertfordshire on what is democracy in the process of becoming.
Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

DEMOCRACY TALK 21 Breaking Barriers, Building Futures: Life Skills Education as a Pathway to Democratic Leadership –
2025-04-23 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for the 21st Democracy Talk with Sudha S. Reddy, Director of Eco Foundation for Sustainable Alternatives on April 23rd at 3pm CET.
Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 20: The Culture of Peace - a viable alternative to militarism?
2025-03-26 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for the 20th Democracy Talk with Ingeborg Breines on March 26th at 3pm CET.
Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 19: Pedagogical Thoughtfulness for Democracy: Insights Drawn from In- and Pre- Service Teachers
2025-03-12 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 19th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, March 12th, at 3pm CET!
We’re delighted to welcome Timothy Murphy of the University of Limerick. He will discuss “Pedagogical Thoughtfulness for Democracy with Insights Drawn from In- and Pre-Service Teachers”
Don’t miss out on this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 18: Navigating Complexity: Depth Education and Politics Beyond Polarization
2025-02-12 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 18th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, February 12th at 3pm CET! We will be speaking with Dino Siwek, Co-founder of the project Terra Adentro and member of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective.

Democracy Talk 17: Democratic Education in ULLL
2025-01-29 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 17th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, January 29th, at 3pm CET!
We’re very happy to welcome Wieger Bakker of Utrecht University He will discuss Democratic Education in ULLL.
Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 16: INSPIRE: Co- designing more inclusive and embedded participation
2025-01-15 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 16th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, January 15th, at 3pm CET!
We’re very happy to welcome Sonia Bussu of the University of Birmingham. She will discuss the project INSPIRE and using co-designing for more inclusive and embedded participation.
Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

INSPIRE is about fostering a more inclusive and participatory society, which starts from the experience and knowledge of marginalised groups to inform more equitable policies. We combine different methodological approaches to evaluate the inclusiveness of past and current democratic innovations, and we test arts-based methods as a way to create more intersectionally inclusive spaces to reimagine democracy, bringing fun into policymaking.

Democracy Talk 15: Transformation and Reflection in Education for Democracy
2024-12-11 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 15th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, December 11th, at 3pm CET!
We’re very happy to welcome Anne Nevgi and Niclas Sandström of the University of Helsinki. They will speak about “Transformation and Reflection in Education for Democracy”.

Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 14: Promoting democratic participation and engagement - the AKA project
2024-11-27 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 14th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, November 27th, at 3pm CET!
We’re very happy to welcome Hilmi Tekoglu of SOLIDAR Foundation. He will discuss “Promoting democratic participation and engagement – the AKA project”.
AKA (Awareness, Knowledge, Action) Active Citizens is a 2-year project, coordinated by SOLIDAR Foundation, carried out in a consortium of 8 partners across Europe namely Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The project’s primary objective is to promote democratic participation and engagement at the EU level among young citizens from marginalised/underrepresented backgrounds across the participating 8 countries. AKA Active Citizens project is funded by Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV). You can learn more here
Don’t miss out on this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 13: How to Educate in a Pluralistic and Democratic Society
2024-11-13 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
We’re very happy to welcome Maria Rosa Buxarrais of the University of Barcelona for our 13th Democracy Talk. She will speak about “How to Educate in a Pluralistic and Democratic Society” with a larger focus on higher education.

Democracy Talk 12: The school as a democratic learning environment (The promotion of a whole-school approach to civic and citizenship education in Italy)
2024-10-30 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)

Democracy Talk 11: Citizen’s Assemblies for Children and Young People
2024-10-16 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 11th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, October 16th, at 3pm CET!
We’re very happy to welcome Benjamin Mallon of the Dublin City University,
DCU. He will speak about “Citizen’s Assemblies for Children and Young People”.
Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube
via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 10: Read Right-Read Rights: A School Project Using Children's Rights to Develop Democratic Thinking in the Educational Community
2024-10-02 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 10th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, October 2nd, at 3pm CET!
We’re very happy to welcome Clàudia Soler Laborda and her colleagues of the Escola Carrilet in Palagrufell, Catalonia. They will speak about the project “Read Right-Read Rights: A School Project Using Children’s Rights to Develop Democratic Thinking in the Educational Community“.

Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 9: Challenging Fake News and Conspiracy Theories in Education
2024-09-18 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
We will have a conversation with Fabian Virchow of the Hochschule
Düsseldorf, HSD. He will speak about “Challenging Fake News and Conspiracy
Theories in Education”.
You can subscribe for all our Democracy Talks on our YouTube page.

Democracy Talk 8: The Social and Political Conduct - Curricula in Primary and Secondary Education in Greece
2024-07-31 15:00 - 15:30 (Europe/Brussels)
Join us for our 8th Democracy Talk on Wednesday, July 31st at 3pm CET! 🗓️
We’re very happy to welcome Manussos Marangudakis from the University of the Aegean, who will share insights into “The Social and Political Conduct – Curricula in Primary and Secondary Education in Greece”.
🌍📚 Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 7: Gender Inequalities: a challenge for inclusive democracy
2024-07-17 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
We’re very happy to welcome Paulina Sekula of Jagiellonian University Krakow who will discuss Gender Inequalities: a challenge for inclusive democracy on July 17th at 3pm CET
🌍📚 Don’t miss out this enriching discussion and tune in LIVE on YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 6: COVIDEA – The Covid Education Alliance
2024-07-03 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
We are very happy to welcome Georgios Kostakos of FOGGS (one of the ten DEMOCRAT partners) who will be speaking about COVIDEA – The Covid Education Alliance.
Join us here: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 5: Glocally Transformative Project-Based Learning – transforming students, teachers, and communities
2024-06-19 15:00 - 15:30 (Europe/Brussels)
Hosted by Diana Trevino and Vanina Morrison
Guests: Maarja Hallik and Merike Saar from the Tallinn University
This session will be streamed for the external audience again live on YouTube. The external audience can join us using the following link: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk 4: IncludeMe+: Participation and peacebuilding through mediation in digital media
2024-06-05 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon
Guest: Emmanuel Acquah (IncludeMe+ Project)
Hosted by eucen

Democracy Talk 3: Experiential Learning: Democratic education beyond traditional didactics
2024-05-22 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon
Guest: Katarina Popović (University of Belgrade)
Hosted by Diana Treviño (eucen)

Democracy Talk #2: Bridging the Gap: From Concepts to Competence in Children's Democratic Education.
2024-05-08 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Featuring Beatriz Toscano from the HSD
Live streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon

Democracy Talk #1: Introducing the DEMOCRAT Project
2024-04-24 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Live streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@democrathorizon
