As the ActEU project drew to a close and held its final conference in early February 2026, the project’s researchers discussed the key findings, methodology, innovations, consortium organisation and impact of the research. With:
- Daniela Braun, Saarland University / ActEU Scientific Lead
- Michael Kaeding, University of Duisburg-Essen / ActEU Coordinator
- Kristina Weissenbach, University of Duisburg-Essen
- Sammy Siegel, University of Duisburg-Essen
- Giulia Sandri, Université Libre de Bruxelles
- Alexander Hoppe, University of Duisburg-Essen
The ActEU Project had two main ambitions. First, it seeked to map and investigate persistent problems of declining trust, legitimacy and representation in Europe with a particular attention to the polarisation of societies and the EU’s multi-level structure. Second, it aimed to craft tailor-made toolkits for political and civil society actors, school teachers and university lecturers to deal with issues of declining political trust in representative democracies in flux and counteract a further decrease.
