Dr Catherine Forde has been awarded an IRC New Foundations grant (2020) to spend time as a visiting scholar at the Department of Public Governance, Management and Public Finance at the University of Ghent and to meet scholars from other Belgian universities including KU Leuven and Radboud University.  She will engage with leading international scholars in Participatory Governance, a field of political science which is concerned with citizen involvement in political decision-making and policy-making.  Professor Bram Verschuere from the University of Ghent will make a return visit to UCC in 2021.

From 2017 to 2019 Catherine undertook an IRC-funded Research for Policy and Society project (A Critical Evaluation of the Implications of Participatory Governance) which explored citizen and stakeholder participation in local Participatory Governance in Ireland. She will speak to staff and students of Ghent University about her research findings and their implications for the evolution of Participatory Governance in Ireland.  The exchange visits will enable the development of research synergies between University College Cork, the University of Ghent and other Belgian universities.

In 2020 Catherine and UK colleagues were awarded funding by Manchester Metropolitan University to engage in the development of a Participatory Governance research network with scholars from the UK, Germany, Italy, Finland and Australia.  The network will enable the development of comparative research work between these countries, the development of joint funding bids and research and academic engagement between UCC and other international universities.

Funded by: The Irish Research Council, New Foundations Programme

Duration: May 2020 - June 2022

Contact: Dr Catherine Forde (PI) School of Applied Social Studies & ISS21