We-ID

We-ID is funded through Horizon Europe, the European Union’s key funding programme for research and innovation. Horizon Europe supports projects that tackle climate change, drive economic growth, and strengthen the EU’s scientific and technological foundations, ensuring a sustainable and inclusive future. Within this framework, We-ID contributes to the EU’s efforts to protect democracy, promote social cohesion, and build resilient societies.

Building resilient democratic communities across a changing Europe

As European societies undergo a significant demographic transformation, questions surrounding identity, belonging, and democratic cohesion are becoming increasingly central. Ongoing migration, geopolitical uncertainty, and social polarisation challenge the promise of unity in diversity, a core principle of the European Union.

The We-ID project, “Identities, Migration and Democracy: Cohesion through resilient democratic communities”, aims to address these complex dynamics and develop actionable strategies to build stronger, more inclusive democracies.

Led by the University of Göttingen and supported by a transdisciplinary network of researchers and practitioners across Europe, We-ID explores how diverse identities can serve as a foundation for democratic resilience rather than a perceived threat.

The project focuses on both host communities and migrant populations, working to answer a central question: How can integration and participation foster cohesion in increasingly diverse societies across Europe?

Key objectives

• Analyse how migration and diversity influence individual and collective identities, and how these impact social cohesion and democracy
• Develop the concept of Resilient Democratic Communities (ReDeCos)
• Formulate evidence-based recommendations to strengthen democracy, participation, and inclusion across Europe

Our aim is to ensure that We-ID’s findings are not only academically robust but also applicable and transformative for communities across Europe.

The project’s journey so far

Since the project’s launch, We-ID partners and stakeholders have met across Europe to share research findings, visit organisations working directly with migrant communities, and connect academic insight with policy makers:

• October 2025, Berlin: Migration, Identity & Democracy. Partners, practitioners and policymakers gathered at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities to discuss democratic resilience, ontological security and the link between demography and migration.
• February 2026, Zagreb: Building bridges: We-ID partners gather in Zagreb. Hosted by the Ivo Pilar Institute, the consortium presented early findings on trust, migrant political participation and identity, and visited organisations supporting migrants and refugees in Croatia.
• April 2026, field voices: 3 Questions | 3 Minutes with Vanya Ivanova. A closer look at Bulgaria’s shift from a country of emigration to one receiving migrants and returnees, through the eyes of one of our field researchers.
• June 2026, Stockholm: Rearranging the living room: We-ID stakeholders meet in Stockholm. Hosted by the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the consortium’s midterm meeting and Stakeholder Conference reviewed progress across all case study countries, visited local initiatives involved in the areas of integration, and brought together a panel on youth and social cohesion.

Having reached its midterm point in 2026, We-ID has consolidated field research and survey findings across all case study countries, Lithuania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Scotland, and is now moving from research into practice.

Engaging stakeholders across Europe

Alongside the research and field visits, We-ID’s Policy, Advocacy and Research Lab has built a wide network of stakeholders from research, policy, business and civil society at European, regional and local level.

Across the first reporting period (August 2025 to August 2026), We-ID engaged around 110 participants at in-person events in Berlin, Brussels and Stockholm, and a further 565 through online sessions.

What’s next

Looking ahead, We-ID’s second half will focus on translating research into practical outputs for policymakers, practitioners and communities:

• New Narratives Workshops: a series of practitioner workshops bringing together civil society, local government and migrant voices to examine how migration, identity and democratic resilience are framed in public discourse, and to share best practice on identity framing in classrooms, museums and workplaces. THE CIVICS is organising the first edition in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in November 2026, followed by a session in Lithuania in spring 2027 and a further edition in Dundee, Scotland, later in 2027.
• The We-ID Toolbox: a policy document bringing together the findings and recommendations from the New Narratives Workshops and other project activities into practical resources for policymakers and practitioners.

Beyond the project’s lifetime, We-PARL’s work is set to feed into the planned European Population & Policy Council, helping keep We-ID’s findings accessible to policy audiences long after the project concludes.

Learn more

Visit the official We-ID project page as well as the website of the University of Göttingen.

Browse the We-ID project flyer.

Contact our colleague Martin Kirbach at kirbach@thecivics.eu.

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