September 21-22, 2026 (+ Tutorial Day: 23 September 2026) | WU Vienna

In recent years, the use of digital and social media to enhance democratic processes and improve governance outcomes, usually through the transformation of the interactions between society, government, the public sector, the private sector and civil society. Digital democracy is both the subject of a large canon of academic research, as well as the focus of numerous initiatives around the world. However, most of the conversations around the topic still occur in silos, with academics and practitioners forming their own tightly knit circles to share information and experiential knowledge.  

The European Digital DemocracY network (EDDY) aims to bring together academics and practitioners actively working on or with digital democracy, to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange. After two successful editions of its flagship conference in Rotterdam and Paris, EDDY will hold its third in-person conference, ‘Digital Democracy: Bridging Theory and Practice’ (EDDY-2026), at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) in September 2026.

EDDY 2026 will feature contributed talks through an open call, a range of social and interactive sessions (networking, round-table discussions, demo sessions, etc.), and a variety of academic and non-academic keynote speakers, including Manon Revel (Google Deepmind), Claes de Vreese (University of Amsterdam) and Graham Wetherall-Grujic (The Innovation in Politics Institute, Berlin). Following the conference, a tutorial day will be held on various topics and methods relevant for the science of digital democracy.

This event is made possible thanks to the support and funding of the Commission Democracy in Digital Societies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Competence Center for Applied AI and Scientific Computing of the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

For more information, see the conference webpage or write to contact@eddy-network.eu to contact any of EDDY’s core committee members: Jan Maly (Vienna University of Economics and Business), Arianna Novaro (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University), Frederik Van De Putte (Erasmus University Rotterdam), or Shefali Virkar (Vienna University of Economics and Business).