CIVICA Summer School 2025
Challenges of Democracy in a Digital World
2 - 6 June, 2025
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest
CIVICA, the European University of Social Sciences, invites applicants to the fourth edition of the CIVICA Summer School. Previously held in Florence, Italy at the European University Institute, the 2025 Summer School will be held in Bucharest, Romania at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA). The 4th edition aims at bringing together early-stage researchers (ESRs) to foster an interdisciplinary reflection on the future of the European project and democracy in general in the context of the increased digitalisation and the surge of the AI across social, political, cultural life and beyond.
The Summer School will be organised with a mix of guest lectures and doctoral researchers’ presentations and discussions. The overall aim of the Summer School is to create a fruitful environment with occasions for both formal and informal fora to discuss and exchange ideas, so as to advance interdisciplinary debate and enrich participants’ perspectives.
The Summer School is aimed at scholars from across the social sciences (including political science, international relations, sociology, economics, etc.) and the humanities (including law, history, philosophy, etc.) in the CIVICA network.
Thematic lectures
“The Political and Social Effects of Facebook: Evidence from Deactivation Experiments” - Discussant: Professor Kevin Arceneaux (Sciences Po)
“Is democracy compatible with the structure of twenty-first-century information networks?” - Discussant: Professor Alina Bârgăoanu (SNSPA)
“Europe Union and Grand Strategy: An oxymoron?” - Discussant: Professor Marina Henke (Hertie School)
“The political economy of EU polity formation” - Discussant: Professor Waltraud Schelkle(EUI)
“Media capture and access to independent political news: Experimental evidence from Hungary” - Discussant: Associate ProfessorGabor Simonovits(Central European University)
Format
The Summer School will offer the opportunity to selected researchers to present their work and receive feedback from academics throughout the network, as well as to attend the lectures. Participation in all sessions is mandatory, and researchers will receive a certificate of attendance upon completion of the Summer School.
Funding
The Summer School is free of charge for participants. The costs for participants’ accommodation and meals are covered by SNSPA, and their travel by their respective university, as part of the CIVICA agreement.
Application
The Summer School is open to 25 selected participants in total: 20 PhD researchers and 5 final-year master students who intend to apply for a PhD the following year. Candidates from all CIVICA partner universities are eligible.
Applications are invited from ESRs across the social sciences and humanities who are members of CIVICA universities. Applicants must be current doctoral researchers. Applications are also open for terminal year master students who intend to apply for a PhD the following year. Applicants are asked to provide a short CV (max. two pages) and a 200-word letter of motivation to attend the Summer School. If applicants wish to present a paper, they should indicate so and provide a very brief summary (300 words) of the ideas they would like to develop. A statement of support from the supervisor must be provided for doctoral researchers. Master students are required to provide a statement of support from one of the PhD supervisors of their university.
Applications have to be submitted by 10 December 2024, by email, to andreea.stancea(at)comunicare.ro.
For any further information, please contact Andreea Stancea.
Lecturers
- Kevin (Vin) Arceneaux
- Alina Bârgăoanu
- Marina Henke
- Waltraud Schelkle
- Gabor Simonovits
Kevin (Vin) Arceneaux is Director of the CEVIPOF and Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po Paris. He studies how people form beliefs and attitudes about politics and, ultimately, make political decisions. His research focuses on how social psychological factors influence and shape people’s motives to consume (or not consume) particular forms of news media, defend (or fail to defend) particular beliefs and attitudes as well as behave in particular ways.
Alina Bârgăoanu, PhD, is the dean of the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Romania. She is member of the “Communication & Health Literacy” Working Group, European Code Against Cancer (5th edition); member of the Advisory Board of European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and of EDMO’s task force on the war in Ukraine and of EDMO’s task force on 2024 European Parliament Elections; Marcin Król Fellow at Visegrad Insight; visiting fellow at Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University; member of the High-Level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation, EC (2018).
Marina Henke is Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School and Director of the Centre for International Security. She researches and publishes on grand strategy, nuclear security and European security and defence policy. Before joining the Hertie School, she was an Associate Professor (with tenure) at Northwestern University, specialising in international relations, as well as at Princeton University where she was a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Waltraud Schelkle is Joint Chair for European Public Policy at the Department for Political and Social Sciences and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Before joining the EUI, she was Professor in Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Schelkle’s research interests are the political economy of monetary integration and the EU polity during the crises since 2008.
Gabor Simonovits is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Political Science Department at Central European University. He received his PhD in Politics from New York University in 2018. His research focuses on both substantive and methodological issues pertaining to the study of public opinion. At CEU, he teaches courses on research methods and political behavior.