Democratic Citizenship in Post-Truth Societies
1. Information
Member UniversitIes Engaged
- Pompeu Fabra University-Barcelona
- Department(s): Serra Húnter Associate Professor of Political Philosophy, Political and Social Science Department Coordinator: Master in Political Philosophy
- Key Contact Person(s): Camil Ungureanu camil.ungureanu@upf.edu
- University of Ljubljana
- Department(s): Senior Research Associate Doctor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts
- Key Contact Person(s): Gregor Moder Gregor.Moder@ff.uni-lj.si
- The University of Edinburgh
- Department(s): School of Social and Political Science, Personal Chair of Political Theory
- Key Contact Person(s): Mihaela Mihai: mihaela.mihai@ed.ac.uk
Thematic Focus
Social and Political Philosophy
Key Information
- Date of Creation: March 2025
- Status: Active
- Primary Language(s): English
- Meeting Frequency: Monthly
- Academic Staff: 4
- Researchers (PhD candidates, Postdocs): 8
- Support Staff: 3
Leadership & Coordination
CC Coordinator(s): Ciprian MIHALI, Head of Philosophy Department, Babes-Bolyai University
2. Our Story
Origins & Development
The spark for this Connected Community was ignited by a shared sense of urgency regarding the pervasive “post-truth” phenomenon. We observed a global landscape where democratic models were increasingly threatened by populist rhetoric, symbolized by the Trump era, and the rise of political extremes across Europe.
While the problem was global, the solution, for us, began in Cluj-Napoca, where a strong foundation in social philosophy already existed through specialized Master’s programs and doctoral research. The initial core, a professor and a dedicated group of PhD students, soon expanded to include researchers from political science and philosophy. To truly address a European crisis, we knew we needed a European network, leading to our foundational partnerships with Ljubljana, Barcelona, and Edinburgh.
Our journey was not without its hurdles. We navigated significant budget constraints and technical “growing pains,” but these challenges culminated in a major success: a complex, high-impact festival that proved our model worked. We successfully transitioned from a local academic circle to a vibrant international hub.
Where We Are Today
Today, our community serves as a bridge between the “ivory tower” of academia and the urgent realities of the European social space. What makes us unique within EUTOPIA is our commitment to transdisciplinarity, merging philosophy, political science, and social activism.
The atmosphere in our meetings is one of intellectual rigor mixed with grassroots energy. Members often describe this CC as a “brave space” where doctoral students and senior professors collaborate on equal footing. We have moved beyond traditional lectures to create an ecosystem of co-tutorships and cross-border research initiatives. We aren’t just discussing the post-truth era; we are actively building the critical thinking tools needed to navigate it.
Our Ambitions & Future Directions
Moving forward, our ambition is to scale our impact from academic discourse to societal transformation. We envision our community becoming a primary consultant for democratic resilience within the EUTOPIA network and beyond.
Our goals for the coming years include:
- Deepening Research: Developing new, multi-university research projects that tackle the evolution of digital disinformation.
- Teaching Innovation: Creating shared European curricula that allow students from all partner universities to engage in “philosophy in practice.”
- Societal Impact: Expanding our festival model into a recurring European forum where students, citizens, and policymakers can engage in constructive dialogue.
Our dream is to prove that the European democratic model is not just a relic of the past, but a living, breathing project that can be defended through shared knowledge and collective action.
3. What We’ve Accomplished Together
Rather than a series of scheduled meetings, the work of our Connected Community is best described as a continuous, boundary-crossing dialogue. We have moved beyond traditional academic silos to create a space where the “status” of the speaker fades behind the strength of the argument.
The Festival: Bridging the Ivory Tower and the City. One of our most defining moments was our public Philosophy Festival (FF2 – Truth and Post-Truth, 9-12 October 2025). It wasn’t just an academic conference; it was a civic event that brought together the EUTOPIA network, international guests, and the local public. The atmosphere was electric, marked by book launches and roundtables where the hierarchy between professor and student vanished. These intense, constructive debates even moved into the cultural sphere, resulting in a featured article in the prestigious Steaua magazine, written by one of our members to share our philosophical inquiries with a wider audience.
The Ljubljana Graduate Conference. Our collaboration thrives on the productive “clash” of different philosophical traditions. While Cluj provides a deep foundation in social philosophy (Deleuze, Foucault), Ljubljana brings the sharp analytical edge of Hegelianism and psychoanalysis, and Edinburgh and Pompeu Fabra contribute critical perspectives on populism and the far right. This May, this intellectual mosaic comes to life in Slovenia at our upcoming conference, “Truth, Politics, and Philosophy.” It is here, in these physical gatherings, that we see the “aha moments”, when a student from Ljubljana finds a new tool for their research in a concept proposed by a professor from Cluj and vice-versa.
Innovative Learning. We have successfully integrated our collective expertise directly into the classroom. In our flagship Social Philosophy course in Cluj, we pioneered a “Joint Course” model where professors from all four partner cities guest-lecture, sharing their unique regional expertise. To make this truly inclusive, we utilized smart technology to create a seamless hybrid environment. This allowed international students to be as deeply engaged as those physically present, breaking the “online barrier” and creating a unified European classroom.
Tangible Connections. The human impact of our CC is most visible in our research exchanges. Students from across the EUTOPIA network now regularly visit Cluj for research stays, turning a bureaucratic partnership into a lived experience of academic mobility. By blending official curricula with extracurricular initiatives, we have created a sustainable ecosystem where the next generation of European thinkers is being forged through direct, personal collaboration.
4. The Impact We’re Making
The impact of our Connected Community is best measured not in metrics, but in the shifting horizons of its members. By creating a bridge between the analytical rigor of Cluj and the diverse philosophical traditions of our European partners, we have fundamentally changed how our students and researchers approach the “post-truth” era.
The most concrete evidence of our impact lies in the new academic trajectories we’ve enabled. Through our network, several doctoral candidates have successfully found co-supervisors at partner universities, such as Ljubljana and Barcelona. This cross-pollination of mentorship has allowed students to ground their research in multiple traditions, blending, for instance, Romanian social philosophy with Slovenian Lacanian psychoanalysis. This isn’t just an administrative achievement; it is the birth of a new type of European scholar who is intellectually bilingual.
On a pedagogical level, our hybrid joint courses have had a profound effect on students’ perspectives. We realized “this collaboration is creating something special” when students who previously viewed the rise of extremism as a localized or purely political issue began to analyze it through a complex, philosophical lens. By engaging with professors from Edinburgh and Pompeu Fabra, our students in Cluj have developed a “critical immunity” to populist rhetoric, learning to deconstruct the mechanisms of post-truth in real-time.
Ultimately, we are not just teaching philosophy; we are fostering a resilient community of thinkers. Whether it’s a student choosing a more ambitious research path or a professor finding a new collaborative angle, the impact is clear: we are no longer thinking in isolation, but as part of a unified European intellectual front.
5. Voices from the Community
Octav Ojog, PhD student, UBB:
“This collaboration opened doors to a unique cross-border mentorship that fundamentally reshaped my doctoral research. The connection with colleagues from Ljubljana and Barcelona provided me with fresh methodological perspectives that I couldn’t have found within a single institutional framework.”
Dan Nădășan, PhD Student, Ljubljana:
“Participating in the Philosophy Festival was a transformative experience that bridged the gap between academic theory and public discourse. It was inspiring to see our students engaging in high-level debates with international partners, proving that socially engaged philosophy remains a vital tool for understanding today’s political complexities.”
Mihaela Mihai, Professor, Edinburgh:
“This cross-European collaboration has established a robust framework for comparative political analysis, allowing us to bridge distinct theoretical traditions and methodological approaches. Integrating diverse perspectives on democratic resilience, we have created a high-level research conversation that integrated the next generation of scholars, equipping them with the necessary skills for addressing the complexities of the post-truth era.”
What to expect:
Participation in this community is designed to be intellectually rigorous yet adaptable to the demanding schedules of researchers and students. Members can expect a dynamic engagement model that includes:
Academic Continuity: Monthly hybrid workshops and guest lectures that integrate seamlessly into existing research agendas.
Intensive Collaboration: Annual flagship events, such as the Philosophy Festival or Graduate Conferences, which require a more focused, short-term commitment.
Networking & Mentorship: Ongoing opportunities for cross-border co-tutorships and joint research publications, allowing members to scale their involvement based on their specific career goals and project interests. The community offers a “brave space” for those looking to move beyond local academic boundaries into a truly European dialogue.