Conferences and meetings

The first major conference within the scientific programme was held at London School of Economics and Political Science the 23rd to 24th of March 2006 with more than 50 participants representing both members of the CINEFOGO Network and researchers from other institutions. The theme of the conference was 'Gender, Citizenship and Participation'. The Conference was hosted by Centre of Civil Society at LSE and chaired by professor Jane Lewis, national coordinator of the UK together with professor Jude Howell, Director of Centre for Civil Society, LSE.

During the winter/spring 2006 several preparing meetings have taken place within other parts of the scientific programme of the CINEFOGO. Already now two other major conferences are planned for the fall of 2006. One in Madrid on 28-29 October 2006 on 'Social Capital and Civil Society' chaired by professor Victor Perez-Diaz, Analistas Socio-Politicos, Madrid (asp@ctv.es) and Dr. Lars Hulgård, Roskilde University (hulg@ruc.dk) and another in Roskilde/Copenhagen on 'The Role and Organisation of the Non-profit Sector in Europe - its relation to the welfare state and its importance for social cohesion' on 15-17 November 2006 chaired by professor Thomas P. Boje, Roskilde University (boje@ruc.dk).
The 6th meeting of the Ph.D.-Network on third sector and civil society studies will take place in Vienna on 25-28 May 2006. This meeting is jointly organised by the Research Institute for Nonprofit Organisations at the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration) and the CINEFOGO Network of Excellence. For more information about this meeting: phd-meeting06@wu-wien.ac.at .
The main goals of the network-meetings are:

• To create a forum for PhD students working on the voluntary or third sector and civil society issues 
• To present their own work to a group of peers and allow them to benefit from the feedback of fellow students and the advise of a group of  faculty 
• To introduce students to theories and approaches in the field 
• To discuss current or future research topics 
• To allow the students create a network with other students from other European countries and other faculties and disciplines.

The PhD-network was founded in 2000 by the Center of Civil Society Studies of the London School of Economics. Since then the best PhD students in the field of third sector and civil society studies around Europe were invited to annual network-meetings in London, Dublin, Stockholm and Tilburg.

Dissemination of results and discussions

The CINEFOGO Network is concerned with the importance of improving citizens' participation in governance. In order to do so, the network seeks to strengthen the connection between theoretical analysis and the dissemination of research results to the public beyond academia initiating a public debate on governance and the evolution of a public and democratic sphere in Europe.

In our efforts to disseminate results and discussions coming out of the CINEFOGO Network to the public beyond academia we have developed a web-site for the Network. This web-site was launched in January 2006 and can be reached at following address - www.cinefogo.org. The web-site includes both information about the CINEFOGO Network at large and details concerning up-coming events in the Network. - The site consists of two parts: A general site for the broad public, and an internal site, accessible only for members of the CINEFOGO Network of Excellence. The general site provides public information related to the CINEFOGO Network and its activities, whereas the internal site serves as a platform for internal communication between the CINEFOGO members.

This spring we expect that members of the CINEFOGO Network of Excellence and others among the Network's stakeholders will take advantage of the information provided via www.cinefogo.org. Not the least we expect members of the Network to increasingly use the e-fora to discuss activities and to document the progress of work. - It is our hope that the CINEFOGO site will be seen as a useful tool for the Network's common endeavour of *providing knowledge about civil society, citizenship and social protection, *nourishing a public debate on governance and *strengthening intellectual co-operation.

If you have questions, proposal for activities and want to contact members of the CINEFOGO network please write to the secretariat of the Network, Annali Kristiansen at secretariat@cinefogo.org

In addition to the web-site we will also publish a Newsletter four times a year informing about events taking place in the CINEFOGO Network. (You are reading Issue no. 1 right now). More important the Newsletter aims at being a place for discussions and debates concerning the scientific themes of the CINEFOGO and a place where the European debate on civil society, civic participation, citizenship and social cohesion can be promoted and facilitated. The responsible editor of the Newsletter is Senior Advisor Lars Josephsen (larsjo@ruc.dk and/or lars.josephsen@mail.dk).

In the scientific programme for the first 18 months the CINEFOGO Network will also in coopera-tion with the Danish Broadcasting Cooperation produce a series of TV-programmes debate civic participation, democracy and national identity in Europe to be used for educational purpose. This cooperation starts with a thematic series of programmes on 'Grass Roots in Europe' and will be followed up with programme on active citizenship and democracy. Responsible for these activities are Christian Holtet, Danish Broadcasting Cooperation (chx@dr.dk).