Interfaced Kick-off meeting, held on 22 January 2025 saw 27 participants and was divided into four major areas:
- EC introduction by policy and project officers
- City’s administrative overview
- ECAS’ communication & dissemination presentation and Data Management Plan (CSS)
- Interfaces conceptualisation discussion
1. EC Introduction
Nora Allavoine, EC Policy Officer
- importance of considering the policy impact of the INTERFACED project.
Key areas of focus include the role of protest politics in shaping democracies, particularly in bringing down dictatorial regimes, and examining how to rebuild citizens’ trust in the electoral process.
The project should explore ways to address the discontent of rural youth, the impact of violence, the influence of social networks, and the importance of citizenship education in engaging citizens politically.
The new European Commission’s priorities are: a “free and democratic Europe”, a “strong and secure Europe”, and “a prosperous and competitive Europe”, all aimed at bolstering EU competitiveness.
This feeds from the Draghi Report highlighting the importance of supporting democracy and upholding EU values, aligning with the goals of the European Democracy Action Plan.
This includes ensuring free and fair elections, safeguarding free media, and contributing to the “European Democracy Shield”—a collective effort to protect democratic values.
Because of that INTERFACED should collaborate with sister projects like ProTest and Trans4Demo, and organize events such as cluster discussions, policy roundtables, and produce policy briefs.
The consortium is invited to engage with the Nets4Dem platform and open a partnership with the JRC.
Reporting for the INTERFACED project
Andreas Murtesanu
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Technical Reports will be submitted through “Continuous Reporting” section of the portal with structured tables containing key project information.
NB. It should be City to submit these, and we should send these to City and not submit them directly. -
Person-Months (PMs): PMs are estimates, and any minor deviations do not need to be reported.
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Audits - if the budget is less than 220k total, no audit costs can be claimed
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Publications must include the EU funding acknowledgment, a logo (link to the drive) and the following disclaimer:
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Agency.” -
As part of Horizon Europe, a Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation (C&D&E) Plan is mandatory. ECAS and City must submit the plan within six months of the project’s start and updated regularly to align with the project’s progress. We’ll probably have to collaborate on it.
2. INTERFACED Project Guidelines and Management
Project Overview and Portal
- INTERFACED is listed on the EC portal: INTERFACED Project.
Managing the Project
- Deliverables: Each deliverable report must be sent to the coordinator for review before submission to the European Commission (EC). If there is a delay, justification is required. Delays of over a month must be reported to the EU officer.
- Common Layout: All reports must follow a common layout, which will be provided by the coordinator, including templates for quarterly progress reports.
- Summary: A summary of each deliverable must be uploaded to the project website.
- Record Keeping: Beneficiaries and partners must keep records and supporting documentation for five years after the final payment.
- Evaluation of Impact: The impact of the action should be evaluated in quarterly progress reports.
Recruitment Guidelines
- Job Posting: All job openings must be posted on EURAXESS and the national/local sites, along with the EC/project reference.
- Recruitment Process must align with EC’s researcher recruitment guidelines.
- The EC’s project website must be updated to reflect recruitment information.
Key Activities and Deliverables
- Official Appointment of Ethics Advisor - 31 Jan 2025 (Lead: City)
- Kick-off Meeting (General Assembly/SAB) - 29-30 Apr 2025 in Budapest (Lead: CSS) General idea is to have two representatives per partner.
- Communication, Dissemination, and Sustainability Plan - 30 Jun 2025 (Lead: ECAS)
- Data Management Plan - 30 Jun 2025 (Lead: CSS/City)
- Quality Assurance Plan - (Lead: City)
- Mapping Interfaces - Ongoing, feeding into Deliverables 7, 8, and 9 (Lead: City, by 31 Jan 2026)
- Data Collection and Analysis Plan - 31 Aug 2025 (Lead: UCPH)
- Literature Review on Media Coverage of Political Participation - 31 Dec 2025 (Lead: UNIPR)
- Review of Literature on Institutional Response to Political Participation - 31 Dec 2025 (Lead: GUF)
- Mapping of Entry Points (Stakeholder Network) - 31 Dec 2025 (Lead: ECAS)
- Report of Ethics Advisor - 31 Dec 2025 (Lead: City)
Open Access to Scientific Publications
All beneficiaries must deposit an electronic copy of the final peer-reviewed manuscript in a repository as soon as possible, and no later than on publication. Research data validating the results should also be deposited.
- Public Access Timeline:
- For publications in journals with free electronic versions: On publication.
- For other publications: Within six months of publication (or twelve months for social sciences and humanities).
- Bibliographic Metadata must be open under CC Public Domain Dedication or equivalent and include relevant information such as funding acknowledgment:
- Project ID: 101178268 — INTERFACED — HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01
- Acknowledgment of EC Horizon Europe program
- Publication date and embargo period, if applicable
- Open Research Europe: Publications can be made at no cost via Open Research Europe. For more information, visit: Open Science REA
- Most of the partners use Zotero as the reference management software to collect, organize, cite, and share research materials. Mendeley also on the table.
Project Progress Meetings
- Kick-off Meeting: Jan 2025 (M1) – Online, covering project management, scientific implementation, and deliverables.
- 1st PM: Apr 2025 (M4) – In-person, Project launch and updates on deliverables (DMP, CDSP, Literature reviews).
- 2nd PM: Mar-Jul 2026 (M15) – Online, Progress report and review meeting with EC officer.
- 3rd PM: Oct-Dec 2026 (M24) – In-person, Stakeholder and mid-term review.
- 4th PM: May-Jun 2027 (M30) – In-person, Stakeholder and progress report.
- 5th PM: Oct-Dec 2027 (M36) – Online, Stakeholder and progress report.
- 6th PM: Jan 2028 – Online, Project debriefing and final report.
Regular consortium meetings will be held once per month, day TBD (probably Tuesday afernoons CET)
3.1 ECAS Presentation and Project Visual Identity
ECAS is working on the project’s visual identity, which includes creating various templates, banners, and posts.
- Social Media Channels: ECAS will utilize Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to promote the project.
3.2 Data Management Plan (DMP)
- Team: Marton Gero and Anna Horvath from Kutatási Dokumentációs Központ (Research Documentation Centre), HUNREN Centre for Social Sciences, will lead the Data Management efforts.
The Data Management Plan (DMP) is a living document that will evolve over time and needs to be adapted continuously throughout the project.
Roles:
- Centre for Social Sciences (CSS) leads Data Management in INTERFACED.
- Research Documentation Centre (RDC), part of CSS, is responsible for supporting research data management throughout the project. The RDC collaborates with the INTERFACED Project Manager, CSS Ethical Research Committee, and CSS IT when necessary.
Storage and Sharing:
- RDC ensures compliance with the DMP and supports the storage and sharing of research data.
- RDC will assist in selecting appropriate repositories for archiving research data and ensure the proper archival of the project.
- Suggestions for Data Management:
- Each consortium member should store raw data on their system, adhering to their own data management policies.
- Personal data should be processed in accordance with the member’s policies, while anonymised data should be stored on the consortium’s shared storage.
- RDC will provide guidelines on anonymisation to ensure consistency.
- The consortium must develop a metadata schema for each data collection, which will be finalised by RDC after approval from all members.
Timeline for Data Management Plan
- Send partners’ policies, regulations, and templates to RDC – End of January (@matthias , @daniel - will need your help here)
- Delegate a person responsible for data management and send contact details to RDC – End of January
- Determine the expected amount of data and types of files for each data field – Mid-February
- Submit Consortium Data Management Plan (DMP V1) for consultation – End of March
- Provide feedback on DMP V1 – End of April
- Consult on DMP V2 – Beginning of May
- Provide feedback on DMP V2 – Mid-May
- Submit final version of the DMP – End of May
City: DMP Contract Management
- Job for Contract Manager: The contract manager is responsible for proceeding with the agreement related to the DMP.
- Joint Controller Agreement: Check if a Joint Controller Agreement is needed for the project.
4. Summary of Discussion Points on Conceptualisation and Operationalisation
4.1. Conceptualisation of Interfaces
- Definition of Interfaces: Interfaces as networks of technological and human actors interacting and maintaining relationships. They act as devices that mediate interaction and simplify complexity. The focus is on the background processes and actions occurring within these interactions.
- Political Participation: Interfaces for political participation are identified as institutional deliberation, public communication, and mobilization processes. These types of participation interfaces are essential for understanding how political involvement is mediated.
4.2. Operationalisation
- The European Citizens Initiative - as an example of a process and arena for interface interaction.
- Interfaces as both arenas (spaces where political participation happens) and processes (the steps through which participation is mediated).
- A detailed and clear definition of interfaces is needed, with input from all participants to clarify both common and differing characteristics of these interfaces.
4.3. Exclusion Criteria
- Facebook as a negativee example: it is an infrastructure rather than a political participation interface. While Facebook can facilitate meetings, it does not necessarily foster political participation, and therefore, it is not considered an interface in this context.
- The distinction between functionality and interface: three categories of interfaces based on their function to facilitate political participation.
- Should functionality be included as part of the criteria for defining interfaces?
4.4. Social Movements and Interfaces
- Social movements as potential interfaces - they serve as platforms for collective political engagement (see above - European Citizens’ Initiative). More discussion needed to clarify this.
- Difficulties in technically anchoring interfaces within specific contexts, especially when considering their role in development projects.
4.5. Selection of Interfaces
- General idea: select three types of interfaces (deliberative, public communication, and mobilization), with attention given to how to select within each category.
- Need to define the ranking criteria for evaluating and selecting interfaces based on their specific function.
4.6. Clarification and Operationalisation
- Clear choices and definitions are necessary to properly operationalise the concept of interfaces for the project’s study.
- Political engagement remains central to defining what qualifies as an interface.
- Interfaces for disenchanted and disengaged individuals are also considered in the definition.
4.7. Further Considerations
- Not all activism is political. Defining political participation in a broader context is complex.
4.8 Timeline and Documentation:
- Before discussing the timeline (COVID - post COVID) and other aspects, consortium will prioritize clarifying conceptual points
- Conceptual discussions will continue on the forum, while the day-to-day tasks will be held on Teams. (@ivan - coordinate the discussion with Dan)
- Relevant sources and references should be added to the shared folder for further review and clarification.
The discussion is ongoing on Teams on WP1 Mapping Interfaces canal (@Nica, @alberto, @hugi - might be interesting to enrich your research with the defined concepts perhaps)
In conclusion and general timeline
- Keep the conversation contained before April’s meeting.
- WP Leaders should think on how to organise the work in the WP - call out for a meeting, use Teams;
- make things visible: share the progress with the Cosnortium
- a WP meeting will be scheduled in early February (as a Consortium meeting) to come back to the concept conversation and work on WP1. @Nica’s presence is vital and @siri 's much appreciated.
At that meeting, we can decide to start other things or organise another meeting etc. - the general idea is to have one consortium meeting per month (most probably Tuesday afternoon)