Vote4ORoL Fellowship
A fellowship programme for first-time voters, ahead of the June 2024 European Parliament elections.
Only 4 in 10 first-time voters cast a ballot in the 2019 European Parliament elections. We decided to do something about it.
Why we did it
Young Europeans care deeply about the issues shaping their lives — climate, jobs, justice, rights. But when it comes to European Parliament elections, turnout among first-time voters has consistently lagged far behind national elections. The reason is not apathy. There isIt is a gap: between what young people care about and their understanding of how the EU actually acts on it.
The Vote4ORoL Fellowship was our response. Ahead of the June 2024 European Parliament elections, we brought together 44 fellows from 15 countries and 19 universities — studying law, political science, journalism, and communication — for a structured programme of research, mentorship, and peer learning designed to close that gap and produce something useful for voters across Europe.
Curriculum
Fellows worked in teams on weekly research tasks under the guidance of mentors. Each week was anchored by a public lecture from a leading expert.
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Week 1 examined what young people care about and why they do or do not vote, with special guest MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield.
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Week 2 explored how national concerns translate into EU policy and how voting shapes the composition of political groups in the European Parliament, with Professor Dan Kelemen.
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During the lecture, fellows addressed the relationship between democratic participation and the rule of law in Europe, with Professor Kim Lane Scheppele. Fellows were also trained in research communication — learning how to translate complex findings into clear, localised messaging tailored to the specific political and social context of their own Member State.
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All participants gathered at Humboldt University Berlin for a two-day in-person bootcamp. Fellows came together to refine their research, develop national campaign plans, and co-author the fellowship's main output: the First-Time Voters Handbook.
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After the bootcamp, fellows returned to their countries and ran targeted campaigns ahead of the June elections — organising workshops, presenting at schools and universities, conducting interviews with local professionals, and distributing visual materials. Each campaign was built around the specific concerns and context of their Member State, turning pan-European research into local civic action.
"I am voting, are you?"
44 fellows from 15 Member States co-authored a first-time voter handbook for the 2024 European Parliament elections, published on 27 May 2024. The handbook covered 11 Member States, explaining what young voters in each country care about most, how the EU is competent to act on those issues, and what the main European political parties have promised and done on each topic.
The handbook received over 1,500 views and was featured in Politico's Brussels Playbook Newsletter.
Project supporters
