CiviCon will be held in Nicosia, Cyprus. It will start on the evening of Thursday 30 October 2025 with an opening reception and continue all through the 31st October and 1st November with plenaries and parallel sessions.  

The main CiviCon venue/centre will be the Bedestan in the heart of old Nicosia. The venues where parallel sessions will be held are also in the old part of Nicosia within walking distance to Bedestan. These venues are: Ledra Palace Hotel, Rüstem Bookstore, Naci Talat Foundation, and Arabahmet Cultural House.

CiviCon is organised by Civic Space. Civic Space is a Technical Assistance Project funded by the European Union under the Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community and implemented in Cyprus. Since 2020, Civic Space has been working to build a stronger civil society that supports democratic changes and confidence-building measures in the Turkish Cypriot community. Its four main objectives include increasing public engagement in civic actions, reinforcing Civil Society Organisations' (CSOs) civic engagement and role in decision-making, promoting a more enabling environment for CSOs in the Turkish Cypriot community, and encouraging stronger links with CSOs in the Greek Cypriot community.

CiviCon aims to explore how to reimagine common values and resources and strengthen solidarity-based civic practices during a time when civic space is shrinking, the concept of truth is eroding, and illiberal movements are gaining strength. It seeks to bring together participants from diverse fields to build bridges between different types of knowledge and to generate new concepts and strategies for resistance, reconstruction, and "living together". The approach is dialogue-based and participatory, drawing on bell hooks' critical pedagogy (1994) and her reflections on engaged critical thinking (2009) to collectively examine, deconstruct, and reimagine narratives surrounding civil society and civic space. The goal is to develop new conceptual frameworks, revisit existing definitions, and foster translocal networks of solidarity, not just to diagnose democratic backsliding but to critically examine and redefine civil society and civic space as sites of resilience and resistance.

CiviCon will concentrate on three main focal areas:

Commoning: Redefining the Commons of Civil Society and Civic Space

• This focus explores how to rethink, redefine, and reclaim "commons" such as values, actors, spaces, methods, and languages to strengthen civil society's capacity to foster democratic life.

Reclaiming "Truth" as an Indispensable Common: in the age of "Post-Truth", "Poly-Truth", "Fugitive Truth"

• This focus examines how civic actors can protect, reclaim, and reinvent open and democratic spaces for dialogue, truth-seeking, transparency, accountability, and restoring trust in systems, institutions, and freedoms, especially as public discussions are shaped by misinformation, conspiracy theories, and delegitimising narratives.

Democratic Backsliding, Illiberal Movements and Resistance Alternatives

• This focus investigates how illiberal, anti-democratic and anti-rights actors establish hegemony, claim and distort democratic tools while eroding freedoms, and how resistance movements can push back to defend democratic civic spaces, plurality, rights, and liberties.

In addition to two keynotes to be provided by world-known academics/experts, CiviCon will host numerous prominent experts from different parts of the World, who will be sharing their work, analysis and projections on three main focus areas. While some of these speakers will physically be with us in Nicosia, Cyprus, we will make use of technology to connect with some others virtually. 

Live broadcast of the keynotes and the plenaries will be available for anyone in Cyprus and around the World who cannot physically be with us in Nicosia.

As CiviCon is not just a conference, 2 keynotes, 3 plenary and more than 10 parallel sessions will be held focusing on different aspects of the focal themes. These sessions will be conducted mostly by CSOs from Cyprus. 

Plus, CiviCon will also provide and promote opportunities for networking and celebrating the dedicated work of CSOs in Cyprus, showcasing their work, outputs and results in their respective booths.

CiviCon will host 9 prominent speakers! These speakers are academics and experts from Cyprus and abroad who have been shaping conversations on civic space, truth, coexistence, illiberal movements, and the ways we resist them. While some speakers will be joining us virtually, some others will be in Nicosia with their in-person contributions. 

Keynotes:

The keynotes on day 1 (31 October) and day 2 (1 November) will be delivered online by Prof. Craig Calhoun and Prof. Donatella della Porta. 

Craig Calhoun

Prof. Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University, is a comparative and historical sociologist, social theorist, and scholar, known for his interdisciplinary work in anthropology, communications, economics, history, international studies, political science, philosophy, and science and technology studies. His latest books include, Degenerations of Democracy (2022), co-authored with Charles Taylor and Dilip Gaonkar, and The Green New Deal and the Future of Work, co-edited with Benjamin Fong (2022). A former president of the Social Science Research Council and the London School of Economics, Calhoun has authored nine books and co-edited twenty-three, including collaborating with former students to create widely used anthologies covering classical and contemporary sociological theory. 

More information may be found at https://calhoun.faculty.asu.edu.

Donatella della Porta

Prof. Donatella Della Porta is a distinguished scholar specialized in political studies and sociology. She is known for her research on social movements, political violence, terrorism, corruption and protest policing. She is currently holding a place at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, Italy, as a professor of Political Science where she also serves as the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and Director of the PhD program in Political Science and Sociology.  She is the director of Cosmos - The Centre on Social Movement Studies. She has been actively engaged in researching the dynamics of civic space, particularly in times of crisis. In her research "Mobilizing for Democracy," she examined civil society’s participation in democratization processes across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. 

More information may be found at https://cosmos.sns.it/person/donatella-della-porta/

Plenary Speakers:

CiviCon will host 7 speakers in the three plenaries to be held on focal themes. While Prof. Christina Flesher Fominaya, Prof. Martijn de Waal, Mete Hatay, Dr. Nayia Kamenou and Prof. Saul Newman will be with us in Nicosia to deliver their speeches, Dr. Jose Ramos and Prof. Tine de Moor will be joining us online for the first plenary to be held on Commoning. 

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Prof. Cristina Flesher Fominaya (PhD University of California, Berkeley) is an internationally recognized expert in European and global social movement and politics, and Professor of Global Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark. She is editor in chief of Social Movement Studies Journal, and co-founder of Interface. She has published and edited widely in the area of social movements and democratic innovation, including her book on Spain's transformative pro-democracy movement Democracy Reloaded (2020 Oxford University Press).

More information can be found at https://www.au.dk/en/cffominaya@cas.au.dk/

Jose Ramos

Dr. Jose Ramos is an action researcher and futurist focused on the commons. With over 25 years of experience, he employs participatory futures and anticipatory governance to drive social innovation. He is the director of Action Foresight, co-editor of the Journal of Futures Studies, and co-founder of the Participatory Futures Global Swarm. He holds a PhD in critical globalization studies and has taught futures studies at universities worldwide.

More information may be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5Px9_qMAAAAJ&hl=en

Martijn de Waal

Martijn de Waal is a professor at the Civic Interaction Design Research Group at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He is a (co-)author of books such as The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. The Hackable City. Digital Media and Collaborative City-Making in the Network Society, and The City as Interface. How Digital Media Are Changing the City.

More information may be found at https://www.martijndewaal.nl/

Mete Hatay

Mete Hatay is a journalist and Senior Research Consultant in the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Cyprus Centre. His research focuses primarily on Cyprus, where he has written widely on minorities and religion, the politics of demography, displacement, and cultural heritage. He has been the regular reporter on Islam in Cyprus for the Muslims in Europe Yearbook.  He is the author, co-author or editor of numerous books, including Sovereignty Suspended: Building the So-Called State (co-writer), Kinship and Diasporas in Turkish Foreign Policy: Examples from Europe, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean (co-editor). His current research concerns post-conflict return and remixing, and the history and international politics of models for negotiated settlements. Besides his regular appearances and commentaries in local media sources, Hatay has also published academic articles in venues such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, American Ethnologist, Middle Eastern Studies, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, and Cyprus Review. 

More information may be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uiO3oHcAAAAJ&hl=en

Nayia Kamenou

Dr. Nayia Kamenou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus. She completed a Ph.D. in European Studies at King’s College London. In 2021, Dr Kamenou received the International Political Science Association "Wilma Rule" Award for the Best Research on Gender and Politics. Her work has appeared in European Journal of Women’s Studies, Sexualities, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Women's Studies International Forum, Social Sciences, European Journal of Politics and Gender and in edited volumes. She has also authored/co-authored several NGO publications.

More information may be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gnp4e4UAAAAJ&hl=en

Saul Newman

Prof. Saul Newman is Professor of Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research focuses on contemporary political and democratic theory, with particular interests in radical politics, anarchism, human rights, political theology, populism, and post-truth politics. He is the author of numerous books, including his most recent, The Anarchist Before the Law: Law without Authority (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).

More information may be found at https://www.gold.ac.uk/politics-and-international-relations/staff/newman/

Tine de Moor

Prof. Tine De Moor is Full Professor of Social Enterprise and Institutions for Collective Action at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. She researches the historical and contemporary development of cooperative organizations—such as energy and care cooperatives—that balance personal and societal interests. A former president of the International Association for the Study of the Commons and founder of the International Journal of the Commons, she has also pioneered Citizen Science approaches and received several major research awards, including an ERC Starting Grant.

More information may be found at https://www.rsm.nl/people/tine-de-moor/

CiviCon will host more than 10 parallel sessions focusing on the three main focal areas. The parallel sessions will be organised by CSOs on a variety of topics. 

Focal area 1: Commoning: Redefining Commons of Civil Society and Civic Space

• “Say What You See – See What You Say?" Creating real and imagined places” by Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR)
• “Co-creating the Civic Commons” by Civil Society Initiative Association (SİTİ)
• “Our Commons: Youth Redefining Civic Space Together” by United Youth of Cyprus
• “Reconsidering the Ground and Scope of our Struggle for Rights” by Vegan Initiative

Focal area 2: Reclaiming “Truth” as an Indispensable Common: in the age of “Post-Truth”, “Poly-Truth”, and “Fugitive Truth”

• “Truth as a Right: Countering Misinformation, Post-Truth, and Restoring Trust” by The Shelter and Vois Cyprus
• “Truth and Beyond in Health” by Universal Patient’s Rights Association (UPRA)
• “Reclaiming Truth: Monitoring, Data, and Advocacy” by Human Rights Platform (HRP)

Focal area 3: Democratic Backsliding, Illiberal Movements and Resistance Alternatives

• “Why are we monitoring/watching? Freedom of Association and Right to Participation” by Civil Society Development Center Association (STGM)
• “Queer Resistance in Cyprus” by Queer Cyprus Association
• “Addressing the Gender Backlash: Reclaiming Civic Space through Feminist Solidarity and Truth” by Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS)

CiviCon is for all of us — in Cyprus and beyond — who continue to believe in the values of democracy, equality, rights, solidarity, peace, and living together. It is a gathering for those who care about shaping a more just and inclusive future.

We welcome civil society organizations, activists, students, academics, media representatives, policymakers, and all individuals committed to these values. CiviCon is a space for anyone searching for pathways, ideas, and collective strength to navigate the uncertain and challenging times we live in.

You can register to the event and to the parallel sessions from the following link:

 https://forms.gle/Qao1W6N3hXQvGAcr6

For any further questions, you can reach out via email at civicon@civicspace.eu or by phone at +90 533 833 79 50 / +90 392 227 65 05.