Professor Leston-Bandeira to lead international hub on public engagement

The International Public Engagement Network (IPEN) is to co-host the new Public Engagement Hub of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the global organisation of national parliaments.

This remarkable achievement recognizes the extraordinary work developed by IPEN since 2020 in supporting knowledge exchange on parliamentary public engagement across the world. IPEN, co-founded by the Centre for Democratic Engagement and the UK House of Commons and chaired by Professor Leston-Bandeira, brings together academics, parliamentary officials and civil society organisations’ representatives from across the world to share and discuss insights and experiences on public engagement, with a view of enhancing practice in parliaments. 

The creation of the Public Engagement Hub will enable IPEN to work with 178 national parliaments across the world, besides its existing members from over 30 countries. The new Hub will expand IPEN’s work and help to develop and embed good practice in parliaments across the world, building on the findings of the Global Parliamentary Report on public engagement. 

The report, which received contributions from several IPEN members, was launched on the 30th and 31st May, at a large high-level online event hosted by the IPU and the United Nations Development Programme. Professor Leston-Bandeira launched the Hub at the event, as well as moderating a roundtable on youth engagement with esteemed guests such as Egyptian MP Sahar Albazar (President of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians) and a roundtable on technology, with amongst other Robert Bjarnason, President of the Citizens Foundation.