In 2026, CIVICA is launching four Research Hubs. Led by faculty members, each Hub brings together research teams from across the CIVICA alliance, combining expertise from different disciplines and perspectives.
The Hubs are designed to act as connecting points within a wider European research network. Through workshops, conferences and collaborative events, they draw in scholars from across the alliance and beyond. Their purpose is to support seed research and lay the groundwork for larger, externally funded research projects in the future.
The four hubs are:
Introducing SEPO
Digital platforms are reshaping European democracies. Social media and AI influences how people access information, form opinions, and interact with others online. These technologies affect political debates, voting behaviour, and public engagement in ways that are often complex and interconnected. Understanding these dynamics requires new research methods that combine social science, data science, and computational approaches, bringing together insights from multiple disciplines to study how digital ecosystems influence society.
As Project Lead, Dr Pedro Ramaciotti explains,"the European Polarisation Observatory (EPO) was created thanks to CIVICA funding in 2021, as an initiative to study phenomena at the crossing of public opinion and social media, revisiting platform studies with political frameworks adapted for European settings. Now recognized as a CIVICA Hub, the European Polarisation Observatory (currently funded by the « Scaling the European Polarization Observatory » grant) is a pivotal point and emergent infrastructure for the collection, treatment and sharing of large scale data for social sciences studies of digital environments and technologies such as AI systems. EPO acts as a data mutualizaiton system, coverting social media and web data, and data relevant for the study AI systems such as recommender systems or conversational agents, impacting several fields of studies across CIVICA: sociology, political sciences, data and computer science, and economy."
What is SEPO
Scaling the European Polarisation Observatory (SEPO) is the flagship project of the European Polarisation Observatory (EPO), one of the first CIVICA Research Hubs. Running from January 2026 to June 2027, SEPO investigates how social media and AI shape political attitudes, social polarisation, and public debates across Europe.
Building on the infrastructure of the European Polarisation Observatory (EPO), SEPO provides a collaborative platform for researchers, students, and policymakers to share data, methods, and findings. As part of the CIVICA European University Alliance, the Hub fosters innovative, evidence-based approaches to studying digital social systems.
Who is involved
SEPO brings together researchers from six CIVICA universities, including Sciences Po, Bocconi University, the Hertie School, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Școala Națională de Studii Politice și Administrative (SNSPA), and Central European University (CEU),. The interdisciplinary team combines expertise in political science, sociology, computational social science, and AI research. Together, they form a Europe-wide team that promotes collaboration, training, and innovation in social science research, supporting both emerging and established researchers in understanding the digital transformation of political life.
What SEPO is looking into
SEPO studies digital politics and social behaviour through several key areas:
Online communities and polarisation – How social media shapes political debates, community formation, and group dynamics.
AI and digital ecosystems – How algorithms recommend content, influence public opinion, and structure digital interactions.
Linking online and offline behaviour – Understanding the connections and differences between digital interactions and real-world policy engagement.
Socio-demographic and inequality factors - How age, income, education, and social status influence online political participation and polarisation.
Why does this matter
Social media platforms and AI are key to modern democracies, influencing elections, public debates, and citizen engagement. The hub provides tools, data, and collaborative infrastructure to understand the digital dynamics and support evidence-based policy decisions across Europe. By combining interdisciplinary social science expertise with cutting-edge technology, SEPO strengthens European research and promotes civic engagement in the digital age.
