Our academics are part of a €3 million Horizon Europe grant to study democratic resilience using digital twins

In a new transdisciplinary project funded by a €3 million Horizon Europe grant, Erasmus University’s School of Social and Behavioural Sciences researchers Dr. Clara Egger and Dr. Asya Zhelyazkova will lead a groundbreaking effort to explore how democracies decline and how computational research tools can help strengthen democratic resilience. The project, titled TWIN4DEM: Strengthening Democratic Resilience Through Digital Twins, brings together 11 partners across Europe.

Our Institute of International Studies (IIS FSV UK) and its two research centers (Peace Research Center Prague & Centre for Digital Humanities Integration) are part of the international consortium. Our faculty team consists of six members – namely Doc. Michal Smetana, Dr. Sarah Komasová, Dr. Jiří Kocián, Klára Vedlichová, Klára Kosová and Prof. Ivo Šlosarčík.

TWIN4DEM aims to change this by leveraging cutting-edge Computational Social Science (CSS) techniques, such as natural language processing, data aggregation, and dynamic simulation models, to analyse democratic decline. The project will prototype the first-ever digital twins of four European political systems: Czechia, France, Hungary, and the Netherlands. These digital twins will simulate real-world scenarios, helping researchers and stakeholders better understand the factors driving democratic erosion and the impact of policy decisions.

The project, set to begin on January 1, 2025, will run for three years and involves partners from across Europe, including Charles University.

You can find more information about the project on its website or in the press release