Dear friends of UiO:Democracy,
It’s been an eventful first year for our interdisciplinary initiative. We had a memorable launch at Domus Bibliotheca in March, a number of fascinating discussions in our ‘Democracy breakfast’ and ‘Democracy lunch’ series, ranging from human rights to local elections, from AI to Sami politics. We’ve also had happenings like ‘Students’ Democracy Day’ in September and the event at the House of Literature in October when we discussed trust in politics, politicians, and democracy, a somewhat pressing issue both in Norway and abroad. It’s been wonderful to have such full houses for these events. Both events will continue through the Spring of 2024, and those who aim to attend the breakfast seminars may want to save these dates: 23 January, 14 February, 13 March and 7 May. These breakfast seminars will be chaired by Umar Ashraf and Shazia Majid. Full program for the events will be published in January.
Through our much cherished cooperation with Sparebankstiftelsen we’ve also had inspiring round table discussions with some of the museums and institutions who work every day on improving our society, through meeting and training kids and youngsters in dialogue and democratic practice. Your work, I should add, fills us with respect.
In addition to this, we’ve had numerous meetings with potential partners, from public bodies and school authorities, to voluntary organizations, NGOs, student bodies, as well as other universities and research institutions. It’s all very promising and we appreciate your enthusiastic responses to our very existence. Spring may be the time for getting closer to working out some of the many promising ideas (we’ll of course get back to our new initiatives through our newsletters and other channels of communication).
As Christmas is approaching, we’re working intensely on what will no doubt be the highlight for us next year, ‘Democracy 2024’, our first annual conference in cooperation with Oslo Science City (Kunnskapsbyen i Oslo). It will, we promise, be a day packed full with engaging and knowledgeable discussions of all kinds of issues related to democracy. Make a note of the date: 18 April 2024.
Our own research is of course at the core of what we do in UiO:Democracy and I’m extremely pleased to have five new research groups in place from 1 January. It means that we will now have nine groups in total, covering a wide range of topics. There’s plenty of activity already and much more to come. Watch this space!
Season’s Greetings from us at UiO:Democracy!
Tore Rem