The Global Forum on Democracy and Development (GFDD) is a project facilitated by the Democracy Institute of the Central European University. The three year project aims to move away from outdated views of democracy developed in and for a Euro-American context and create a cross-regional dialogue on democracy in its political, social, and economic dimensions. Through its regional hubs, the Forum has established a platform for critical collaboration between scholars from the Global South and North in order to confront a series of conceptual and policy-relevant challenges that are associated with reviving and reclaiming democracy and understanding the synergies between democracy and development.

As one of the regional institutional partners of the Forum, SSA is hosting two senior Fellows and six Post-doctoral Fellows in Colombo for a period of 08 months (October 2024-May 2025). Under the guidance of an Academic Convenor, the Fellows will engage in individual research projects related to the broad theme of democracy and development. They will also engage with academics from universities and research institutes in Sri Lanka during their residency to collaborate on various research endeavours. This knowledge exchange is expected to benefit local academics as well as the Fellows in developing their research, innovative teaching methods, and creating sustainable academic collaborations.