The CCINDLE consortium met for its fifth plenary meeting as guests of Radboud University, on a pair of beautiful March mornings in the historic Dutch city of Nijmegen.
The project has passed its midpoint, and conversation is crystallising around the remaining research outputs required from partners and how their impact can be maximised. Publications, a third podcast episode and our recent policy brief are among the new outputs promoted by CCINDLE already in 2025, and partners moved between ambition and pragmatics as they planned the next phase of their research on anti-gender and anti-democratic movements around the world.
The agenda this time consisted of fewer, longer sessions, allowing the more than twenty assembled researchers and task leaders from different teams to explore common challenges and share perspectives and open questions. How can the research activities of CCINDLE, like its massive multi-national comparisons or policy recommendations, be conveyed to the right audiences? What will really benefit societies at risk of anti-democratic movements, campaigners facing political crackdowns, or feminist policymakers in hostile legislatures? How are legacies of capitalism, colonialism, fascism or liberalism shaping the power dynamics and space for protest for marginalised groups internationally? How do we build collaborative, positive responses to democratic erosion and the decline of gender, LGBTQ+ and minority rights across much of the world? How do activists actually want to be reached, in our case study countries and beyond? Partners evaluated the prospect of a journal special issue or edited book to spread project insights, with videos, evidence bites, social media channels and podcasts among other ongoing impact avenues. Partners also considered the possibilities of a final event for the project, and how this could be a positive, celebratory gathering; transcending the usual conventions of the Horizon Europe closing conference. Stay tuned for news on that.
Amidst the theoretical and logistical debates, work package leads met with the European Commission Project Officer and reviewers for the second CCINDLE review meeting; reflecting on the project’s progress over its middle third and garnering encouraging feedback from our EC colleagues. These reviews are a chance for constructive discussion, with the reviewers offering their expertise to maximise CCINDLE’s impact. The atmosphere was positive and gave partners a boost as we head into the final straight.
The Nijmegen meeting was a valuable chance for partners from nine countries to get together, debate, socialise, and explore the opportunities for CCINDLE in its remaining timespan. We look forward to rolling out the next stage of the research.
Author: Alex Murphy, Trilateral Research. 14th April 2025