Second international conference of deliberating Universities Network unidelib : "Are university deliberative assemblies political spaces?"

Are university deliberative assemblies political spaces?

International Conference
15th June 2026
Institut d’Etudes Politiques Fontainebleau – UPEC
Amphitheatre

 

Program

• 9h - Introduction: Emilie Frenkiel, Chloé Santoro, Selma Tilikete (Université Paris Est Créteil)
• 9h30 - Keynote Speech: Graham Smith (University of Westminster) – Citizens’ Assemblies in Universities: Towards a More Systematic Research Agenda 
• 10h - Break
• 10h15 - Session 1 – Classification of the Political Dimensions of Academic Assemblies
  • Selma Tilikete (Université Paris Est Créteil, LIPHA) – Starting from What Academic Institutions Are, to Consider What Academic Assemblies Do and Can Do Educationally and Politically
  • Jeffrey Kennedy (McGill University) – Deliberative Constitutionalism and Mini-Publics in University Contexts: Deliberation To, From, and Through Instances of Reform
  • Paul Robineau (Université de Lille), Pauline Bucchiarelli (Université Paris-Nanterre), Nicolas Burger, Lou Grimal (Université de Bordeaux) – From Academic Deliberation to Public Formation: A Deweyan Analysis based on the IESF Scientific Convention
  • Discussant: Volkan Gul (Dumlupinar University)
• 12h - Lunch
• 13h - Session 2 – Politics of recruitment
  • Chloé Santoro (Université Paris-Est-Créteil, LIPHA) – Recruitment for University Deliberative Assemblies: Practical and Theoretical ambiguities
  • Anaïs Vansteene, Lisa Schaffhauser and Katell Normand (Université Paris-Nanterre) – Is a course about geography and participation a suitable context to implement a student citizens’ assembly? Case study of the CEUPN
  • Discussant: Pierre Moy (Université Paris Est Créteil, LIPHA)
• 14h15 - Break 
• 14h30 - Session 3 - Political Impacts and Psychological Effects
  • Yasmin Kulasi, Graham Smith and Ro Spankie (University of Westminster) – The University of Westminster Climate Assembly: Perspectives from across the University
  • Ivar Maas (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) – Effects of a University Climate Assemblies on participants and broad policy acceptance: A mixed methods study at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Laurent Devisme (Nantes National Superior School Of Architecture) and Arnaud Leclerc (Nantes University) - Politics, Policy, and Polity: Mapping the Differentiated Balances of Democratic Experimentations at Nantes Université
  • Discussant: 
• 16h15 - Break 
• 16h30-17h : Chaire Délibération (UPEC) Analytic summary of the study day 
• Conclusion
• Dinner party in Paris city centre

 

UNIDELIB Worshop

16th June 2026
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
Room C205

Program
 

9h-10h Workshop1
Discussion on funding applications and publications

10h-11h Workshop 2
Taxonomy of deliberative processes organized in university setting
Data gathering, national idiosyncracies, inter-university proposals/events
Discussion led by Chaire délibération UPEC

11h-11h15 Coffee and tea break

11:15-12h Workshop 3
Digital tools for mini-publics in academic setting: conceiving equitable digital participatory
citizenship
Discussion led by IESF and SUPSI (Filippo Bignami)

12h-13h Workshop 4
Can mini-publics become safe spaces?
Discussion led by Themis Le Quan Phong (UPEC), Romane Benaglia-Kermagoret (USN) and
Emilie Frenkiel (UPEC)

13h-14h Lunch Break

14h-15h Workshop 5
What happens after the assembly? Are deliberating universities transforming?
Discussion led by Chaire délibération UPEC (Selma Tilikete UPEC)

15h-16h Workshop 6
How to organize the governance of the assembly? Discussion on the drafting of the
synthetic organization guide
Discussion led by Chaire délibération UPEC

16h-16h45 Film
"De la Démocratie en Démocratie" (30 min) by Yves Lechermeier