NEWS
We invite you to an online seminar to celebrate the launch of the project’s final report.
Report launch
We are delighted to announce the publication of the project’s final report: Redistributive Imaginaries: How do digital platforms shape meanings and practices of redistribution in Europe’s mixed economies of welfare? Written by the project’s PIs, and drawing on insights from the entire research team, the report presents our findings from three years of research on meanings and practices of redistribution in Finland, Montenegro, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
In Europe’s mixed economies of welfare, redistribution practices are dispersed through civil society. Voluntary organisations involved in the delivery of welfare increasingly rely on digital tools and platforms to raise funds and manage relationships with donors. The project interrogates the systems of meaning that people use to make sense of redistribution and welfare provision. Through platform analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, we have examined emerging practices in the voluntary sector and identified some of the significant ways in which digital platforms are shaping dominant and emerging redistributive imaginaries.
Our report presents:
- an analysis of the redistributive conjuncture
- insights into emergent redistributive practices
- key findings: seven dominant redistributive imaginaries
- implications for the future of mixed economies of welfare
Read the report and download a visualization of the project’s key findings, designed and built by digital designer and developer Oliver Smith.
Online seminar
Join us for an online seminar to celebrate the launch of the report on Wednesday 18 March 2026, 12.00-13.30 CET. Free and open to all. Register on the University of Zurich event portal.
Members of the research team will discuss the project and its key findings, followed by discussion with respondents John Clarke, Eva Frade and Hanna Kuusela, and a Q&A with the audience.
Chair: Emma Dowling (University of Vienna)
Presenters from the research team: Rebecca Bramall (University of the Arts London), Milana Čergić (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz), Moritz Ege (University of Zurich), Mercè Oliva (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Respondents: John Clarke (Emeritus, Open University), Eva Frade (Platoniq Foundation), Hanna Kuusela (University of Jyväskylä)