Research Theme

Democracy, Participation, and Human Rights

Technology has the potential to reshape the foundational principles of societies, including our understanding and conceptualisation of what a democracy is and the rights we have as humans.

Research Projects

Projects undertaken by JBC members in this area deal with a wide range of topics, including finding solutions on how to reduce the number of invalid votes that are cast in elections, studying the funding structure of political parties, understanding political participation of young voters, and assessing the impact of technologies on the protection of human rights.

The Young Researchers’ Network - Dr Intifar Chowdhury

The Young Researchers’ Network is an initiative developed in the framework of the European Democracy Hub and EPD’s Women and Youth in Democracy WYDE Civic Engagement project, supported by the European Union. Representing Australia and Flinders university at a global stage, Intifar is one of the 12 selected young researchers who are appointed to a three-year programme.

These youth researchers have the opportunity to exchange and learn from scholars, policy makers and the themes of Youth Participation, Civic Engagement and Democracy. Under the initiative, young researchers will ultimately produce a collection of case studies that will be published on the European Democracy Hub website.

Chief Investigator: European Partnership for Democracy (EPD)

Grant Funder: European Commission, European Union

Funding: $17,000

Member Publications

Intifar Sadiq Chowdhury / Explaining the modern gender-generation gap in Australian politics (2026)

Emma Thomas et al. / Agreeing to disagree : When do superordinate identities facilitate competing opinion-based groups to work through intergroup conflict? (2026)

Rob Manwaring & Emily Rose Foley / A new era of ‘minimal social democracy’? Comparing UK Labour under Keir Starmer (2026)

Rob Manwaring & Josh Holloway / South Australia. Australian Politics and Policy (2026)

Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau, Rodrigo Praino et al. / On the Relationship between Age and Intentional Invalid Voting in Compulsory Elections (2025)

Melissa-Ellen Dowling / Far-right populism in alt-tech: A challenge for democracy? (2025)

Josh Holloway et al. / The Inverted Hierarchy: How Public Bias Can Favor Potential Indigenous Candidates (2025)

Rob Manwaring / Political demand and policy advice: a framework for analysis (2025)

Rob Manwaring / A 'new economic model' in Australia? The political economy of the Australian Labor Party

Adela McMurray et al. / A Comparative Study of Design Leadership, Work Values Ethic and Innovation in Western Workplaces (2025)

Joel Lisk / Do We Change How We Protect? Changes To The Privacy Act (2025)

Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau / Pre-election voter information interventions led by electoral management bodies can improve voter confidence (2025)

Rob Manwaring & Emily Rose Foley / The Contradictions of the Albanese Labor Government in Australia : The Promise and Limits of 'Thin' Labourism (2025)

Lucy Bird, Emma Thomas & Michael Wenzel / “No Matter What We Do, Nothing Is Enough” : A Qualitative Investigation of Political Despair. (2025)

Latest Report

Turning Away from Democracy? Democratic Antipathy and Support for Undemocratic Practices Among Young Australians

Dr Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau
Research Fellow, Jeff Bleich Centre

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The Jeff Bleich Centre was established to undertake world-leading research, to strengthen the core values and institutions of democratic societies.

Most of our research projects are externally-funded through competitive grants, contracted research, and philanthropic donations. Funding sources have included the Australian Research Council (ARC), SmartSat CRC, Defence, the Office of National Intelligence and the Australian Space Agency.

The JBC encourages and actively promotes collaborative research with national and international institutions. Collaborations have included work with the University of Adelaide, Monash University, Griffith University, the Australian National University, the University of Virginia (USA), Arizona State University, the University of Ottawa, the Victoria Electoral Commission, Defence Innovation Partnership, South Australian Space Industry Centre, the Electoral Commission of Queensland, and the European Space Policy Institute.