Friday, February 13, 2026

Friday was devoted to a practical exploration of specific participatory approaches. The focus was on the presentation of a project by students from the Institute for Information Systems (WIN) that addressed ways to strengthen opportunities for student participation. Various digital tools and platform concepts were presented, demonstrating how e-participation can promote transparency, accountability, and engagement.

However, the participation formats developed are geared toward specific issues in higher education policy. These include, among other things, participation in research projects with potential military applications, the use of generative AI in academic studies, political outreach on campus, the installation of unisex restrooms, and the role of research in the defense industry at KIT. These topics demonstrated how digital participation can be utilized, particularly in controversial or complex decision-making processes.

During interactive working sessions at thematic tables, the proposed designs were presented and discussed. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and finally evaluate the concepts using a specially developed questionnaire that focused particularly on aspects of the user experience.

In addition, a practical presentation on the Liquid Feedback participation system offered insights into concrete applications of digital democracy. Using real-world scenarios, the discussion explored how online participation platforms can support deliberative processes, structure opinion-forming processes, and enable varying degrees of participation. The presentation encouraged participants to critically reflect on the previously presented tool concepts in terms of feasibility, governance issues, and institutional frameworks.

Based on the discussions and working sessions, key recommendations for shaping digital participation in the higher education context were formulated.

 Click here for the results.

The participating experts were:

Dr. Jonas Fegert (HoP/FZI), Amal Labbouz (WIN), and students from the "Digital Democracy" course (WIN)