Act on DEMOCRACY

Topic

Organised and led by:

tech & democracy analyst Maria Koomen

 Ideas / Action | Sat 15th Sep | 2-4:30 pm

*Act On sessions offer quarterly action-oriented get-togethers on a specific issue, between experts and an audience willing to DO something about it.*

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ABOUT THE HOSTS

Maria Koomen is a Democracy, governance & tech analyst and advocacy specialist. She is the former governance director at the Centre for Future Generations, working on the challenges at the intersection of emerging technologies, democracy, and governance. Her work focused on ensuring that governance systems evolve to keep pace with technological and societal change. Maria led the Open Governance Network for Europe, a joint initiative of Open Government Partnership and Democratic Society to drive connection, dialogue, and learning around public participation, transparency, and accountability with an eye to improving democracy and governance in and across the European Union. Prior to that Maria was senior programme manager on the Democracy Conflict & Governance program at the Carnegie Europe.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium <30	Available on request

Ideas / Thurs 10th Sept / 9 am - 5.30 pm

Does your message resonate with the people you're trying to reach - or only with those who already agree with you?

Effective climate communication depends on understanding the audiences that matter for your goals - including which messages resonate, which fall flat, and which backfire.  

Message testing is a research method that helps you bridge that gap: identifying which narratives, frames, and words land well with specific audiences, and which ones may do more harm than good. 

In this session, Natalie Schroyens, analyst at the Climate Opinion Research Exchange (CORE), walks you through the essentials of message testing in practice - and shows how it can inform your communication strategies. 

We'll explore real examples from recent studies on climate communications, and you'll have the chance to practice together in applying the method to your own work: defining your audience, clarifying the attitudes you want to shift, and identifying the narratives worth testing. 

What you'll take away: 

• A clear understanding of how message testing works and why it matters 
• Examples from recent research on what resonates (and what doesn't) across different audiences 
• A first framework to apply message testing to your own campaigns, projects, or communications

This session is for anyone involved in climate or sustainability communication: NGO staff, campaigners, institutional communicators, educators, policy advocates, and anyone who wants their message to land beyond the bubble.

PRACTICAL INFO 

Free, but registration is required 

Free networking lunch included 

Format: Interactive workshop — max. 30 participants 

Language: English 

ABOUT WAVEMAKER 

The Good Wave is a network of effective climate action. It organises networking activities, free Learning Labs, an exciting toolbox and thematic sessions named Wave Maker Sessions. The latter focus on a specific topic related to climate action and communication.

CORPORATE POWER in the age of ai
And the cloud

A salon with CECILIA RIKAP

Ideas / Salon | Thurs 24th Sept | 6.30-8.30 pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Cecilia Rikap is an award winning economist and currently Head of Research and Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). She is also a researcher at the CONICET, Argentina's national research council and a researcher at University of Technology of Compiègne. Her research is rooted in the international political economy of science and technology and the economics of innovation. She currently studies the rising concentration of intangible assets leading to the emergence of intellectual monopolies, among others from digital and pharma industries, the distribution of intellectual rents, resulting geopolitical tensions and the effects of knowledge assetisation on the knowledge commons and development. 

GOOD READS

The Rulers, Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud (2026); Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered (2021); The Digital Innovation Race: Conceptualising the Emerging New World Order (2021).

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium (30-40)	Available on request

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

Fri 20th - Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Nov

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