In order to improve polit­i­cal par­tic­i­pa­tion, we need to under­stand it in its full com­plex­i­ties. We there­fore work and research to iden­ti­fy and analyse knowl­edge gaps, deficits, and bar­ri­ers to polit­i­cal par­tic­i­pa­tion. It is impor­tant to us to engage with dif­fer­ent actors from acad­e­mia, prac­tice, pol­i­tics, and civ­il soci­ety and to take into account their dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ences and per­spec­tives. In this approach, we com­bine dif­fer­ent quan­ti­ta­tive and qual­i­ta­tive research meth­ods such as rep­re­sen­ta­tive sur­veys, inter­views, and focus groups.

With our research, we want to under­stand how peo­ple and dif­fer­ent social groups expe­ri­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion and per­ceive access or bar­ri­ers to it. We exam­ine the per­spec­tives of pol­i­cy­mak­ers about these respec­tive issues in order to reduce dis­so­nance between them and civ­il society.