An event on pro-democracy public sector tech

Sycamore Collective

21 May 2025 • 1 min read

Authoritarian leaders in multiple countries are currently demonstrating that public data and public sector technology can be used in undemocratic and harmful ways.

We believe that the people who research, make and design technology products and systems are well-placed to notice and anticipate some of these vulnerabilities, but think that there are gaps in our knowledge about how to design and future-proof the UK's public sector technology so that it is pro-democracy.

So, to explore the topic we've organised an event on Wednesday 18th June 2025.

The event will start with a short presentation on how digital platforms, data infrastructure and AI have been misused outside the UK. Attendees will then nominate topics to discuss in interactive sessions. We hope the topics will cover both risks and practical opportunities.

The event is kindly supported by Westminster University's Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI).

If that sounds like a useful event then you can find out more and sign up to attend.

After the event the organisers will collate and, under the Chatham House rule, share information about how the event was run and the lessons learned in sessions.