RESPOND is an ambitious European research project funded by Horizon Europe RIA.
By examining the links between political corruption, digital technologies, and civic engagement, RESPOND aims to better understand how societies can defend themselves from increasingly complex forms of political influence.
Understanding and Confronting Political Corruption
RESPOND starts from a simple but alarming observation: political corruption is not always visible.
It often operates in the grey areas of legality, where influence, personal connections, and media control quietly distort democratic competition.
The project seeks to answer key questions such as:
- How does political corruption function in today’s digital societies?
- How deeply does it affect democracy and public confidence?
- And how can civic and technological innovation help restore integrity and trust in democratic institutions?
Project Objectives
RESPOND is built around four main goals:
- Analyzing modern forms of political influence including political financing, lobbying, revolving doors, and media control to determine when these practices become problematic and cross into corruption.
- Examining how corruption is perceived and understood by political elites, the media, and citizens — and how these perceptions shape the legitimacy of democracy and global responses to corruption.
- Exploring the role of digital technologies both established and emerging in combating political corruption and promoting transparency, accountability, and integrity at national and transnational levels.
- Co-creating solutions with stakeholders by engaging researchers, journalists, NGOs, and citizens in designing new monitoring tools, risk indicators, and strategies to strengthen ethical governance.
An Innovative and Collaborative Research Approach
Over five years, RESPOND will carry out an extensive interdisciplinary research program combining qualitative, quantitative, and digital analysis methods.
The study will cover 27 EU countries and 11 neighboring nations, including Ukraine, Serbia, and the United Kingdom.
Through a series of co-creation sessions, the project will bring together experts from universities, public administrations, law enforcement, journalism, and civic activism.
The goal: to develop innovative strategies that strengthen public ethics and rebuild citizens’ trust in democratic systems.
A European Partnership for Democratic Integrity
The project is coordinated by the University of Bologna (Italy) and brings together a consortium of leading European institutions:
Anti-Corruption Research and Education Centre (Ukraine),
Central European University (Austria),
Government Transparency Institute (Hungary),
University of Gothenburg (Sweden),
Institute for Global Analytics (Bulgaria),
King’s College London (United Kingdom),
Libera (Italy),
Sciences Po (France),
Sustainable Communication (Belgium) with its affiliates Net7 and Tele Radio City (Italy),
University of Amsterdam (Netherlands),
University of Lisbon (Portugal),
University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany),
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy).
