Deliberative Democracy in Action Masterclass Series 14-16 May 2025

This masterclass series is designed to provide in-depth understanding of deliberative practices and democratic innovation, informed by knowledge of both international and Australian experience.  

It is an initiative of the Centre of Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance — widely recognised as the leading global centre for the study of deliberative democracy.

The masterclasses will explore critical questions, including: 

• How should questions regarding representation factor in the design of deliberative processes? How can inclusive and balanced participation be achieved?

• How can deliberative practices be consequential and achieve impact? How are they effectively embedded within policy-making structures?

• How can deliberative practices contribute to building democratic resilience? How can they strengthen the public sphere through tackling contentious or difficult topics? 

  
  

Through in-depth examination of these critical questions with leading experts in the deliberative democracy field, these masterclasses will equip participants with the insights and skills needed to strategically apply deliberative processes to complex societal challenges. 

Wednesday 14 May: Representation

Explores how democratic ideals such as inclusion and participation are realised in deliberative process. This includes how experts are involved in processes and examines strategies to enhance representation in various contexts such as where there are inherent power inequities.  

Participants will master: 

• The different ways to consider representation in deliberative processes and how to design processes that include varied perspectives.   

• An understanding of how inequalities impact deliberation and tools for addressing disparities. 

• How to consider the perspectives of those that cannot participate such as future generations or non-humans.  

• How to design methods that effectively engage experts and apply their knowledge to the deliberative process. 

Guest speakers – to be announced soon!

Thursday 15 May: Impact

Explores how deliberative practices are connected to the wider institutional and political contexts, and the democratic system overall.  This includes an examination of the consequentiality of practices and factors that affect their impact. 

Participants will master:

• An understanding of how democratic innovations can be effectively positioned within a policy-making context, systems of governance and existing public participation approaches. 

• An ability to identify varied pathways for impact and how to strategically design deliberative processes that achieve this impact.

• An understanding of the determinants that influence the legitimacy conferred on deliberative processes, and strategies for how to strengthen legitimacy. 

Guest speakers – to be announced soon!

Friday 16 May: Resilience

Explores how deliberative practices can contribute to building democratic resilience. It will consider deliberation in contexts where there are entrenched special interests, deep power inequalities, or divergent views on possible solutions to complex issues.  This masterclass builds an understanding of both the opportunities and limitations for deliberation to break impasses and generate more broadly accepted policy outputs.   

Participants will master: 

• A critical understanding of how deliberation can mitigate extremist threats in contexts where there is deep polarisation, mistrust or disinformation. 

• An ability to design processes that appropriately consider relevant social movement actors and stakeholders. 

• A toolkit of deliberative approaches and design choices that can mitigate division and entrenched views. 

Guest speakers – to be announced soon!

Registration

Participants can enrol in each masterclass separately if they are only interested in one or two topics. Alternatively, the masterclasses will run on three consecutive days allowing participants to enrol in all three as an intensive. 

$385 (incl. GST) per day

$990 (incl. GST)  for all three masterclasses

Register for

Representation (single day) - Register here

Impact (single day) - Register here

Resilience (single day) - Register here

All three masterclasses - Register here

Registration includes morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Certificate

Participants will be provided a participation certificate from the Centre of Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance.