Brazil Chair at the University of Münster organises event series "The Future of Online Participation in Smart Cities"

As part of the CAPES-Brazil Chair, the research team led by the Brazilian academic Prof. Dr José Carlos Vaz is organising the online event series "The Future of Online Participation in Smart Cities". Prof Vaz is Professor of Public Policy Management at the University of São Paulo - UM's strategic partner university - and is currently a guest professor at the Chair of Comparative Political Science - Municipal and Regional Politics working group at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Münster under Prof Dr Norbert Kersting, where he and his team are conducting the research project "Scope - State Capacity in Smart Cities for Online Participation". The Brazil Chair team includes the postdoctoral researcher Dr Fernanda Campgnucci and doctoral student Ítalo Alberto do Nascimento Sousa.

The series of events is intended to bring together researchers and practitioners from the public sector and civil society from Germany and Brazil/Latin America to discuss current issues relating to online participation and is also aimed at a non-academic audience. The aim is to build a network of researchers and practitioners and to make the research results available to a broad public. The central themes of the series include "Technological trends and best practices", "Challenges and barriers to implementation", "State capacity for online participation" and the "Relationship between democracy and state-society interaction ".

The kick-off event will take place on 16 October at 15:00 (CEST)/10:00 (BRT) and will focus on the topic of "Artificial Intelligence and Online Participation". It is dedicated to the challenges and opportunities of artificially intelligent control in democratically orientated smart city initiatives. The moderator of this first panel discussion is Prof Dr Norbert Kersting. Also taking part in the panel are Ricardo PoppDirector of Instituto Cidade Democrática, Clara Iglesias Keller, Research Leader of the "Technology, Power and Domination" research group at the Weizenbaum Institute, and Prof. Dr Andreas Jungherr, Professor of Political Science, especially Digital Transformation, at the Institute of Political Science, at the University of Bamberg.

The discussions will be streamed live on YouTube. The full programme is available on the project website: https://scope.uni-muenster.de/webinars/. The event series receives institutional support from the International Digital Dialogues of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and the Goethe-Institut São Paulo, among others.

The "Brazil Chair" established at the University of Münster in 2011 is a visiting professorship funded by the Brazilian funding agency CAPES, whereby the selected professor from Brazil can now conduct research in Münster for one year with a postdoc and a doctoral student. The Brazil Chair aims to intensify cooperation between German and Brazilian researchers and to make the achievements of excellent Brazilian academics in Germany more visible. At the University of Münster, the Brazil Chair is coordinated by the Brazil Centre and is open to all disciplines.

Further information and news about the event series:

Event page: https://scope.uni-muenster.de/

DWIH São Paulo: https://www.dwih-saopaulo.org/pt/event/seminario-on-line-a-i-and-online-participation/

Goethe-Institut: https://www.goethe.de/ins/br/pt/ver.cfm?event_id=25991402

GIZ Urban October programme: https://city-transitions.global/event/future-of-online-participation-in-cities-part-ii-a-i-and-online-participation/