Research Meets Practice #2 – Bridging Civil Society, Academia & Institutional Actors in an Age of Digital Civic Engagement
On October 7, 2025, the Research Center for Civil Society, in partnership with the Take Part Project at Babeș-Bolyai University, hosted the second edition of Research Meets Practice. This event brought together researchers, civil society practitioners, and institutional stakeholders to advance a shared goal: strengthening partnerships between NGOs, academia, and institutions in a time when civic participation is evolving rapidly through digital networks. The Take Part project was represented by Dan Mercea, Coordinator and Melania Leșe, team member.
Given Take Part’s focus on social learning in social movements and the role of social media in restoring civic engagement, the dialogue took on a special dimension. Participants explored not just traditional paths to collaboration, but how new knowledge ecosystems, data infrastructures, and cross-sector strategies can respond to fast-changing digital environments.
Key highlights from the discussion included:
- Ensuring high-quality research standards in the civil society sector and among providers of research services;
- Making datasets publicly accessible—from NGOs, institutional actors, and digital platforms alike;
- Fostering interdisciplinarity to capture the complexity of civic engagement in the digital era;
- Forming partnerships across civil society, academia, and NGOs to co-produce knowledge;
- Supporting strategic funding schemes tailored to research-practice collaborations;
- Building the capacity of NGOs and researchers to collect, analyze, and interpret data;
- Translating research into accessible formats and language for practitioners, activists, and citizens;
- Creating data hubs and shared infrastructures where knowledge can be pooled;
- Designing interdisciplinary learning programs that bridge theory, practice, and digital civic tools;
- Nurturing sustainable networks that maintain dialogue, trust, and joint initiatives over time;
- Integrating research insights into public policy processes via closer cooperation with institutions;
- In the spirit of Take Part, reflecting on how information diffusion through social media networks can feed into movement learning and collective action.
This edition of Research Meets Practice reaffirmed the value of convening diverse actors to co-imagine knowledge systems responsive to evolving civic landscapes. With projects like Take Part investigating the interplay between networks, discourse, and mobilization, such cross-sector conversations become not just valuable—but vital.
We extend our gratitude to the Research Center for Civil Society and also The Făgăraș Research Institute, whose collaboration made this event possible and fruitful in shaping the future of socially engaged research.
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