Imagine! Festival: The democratic impact of social media abuse towards women in politics

On Wednesday the 25th of March, 2026, we hosted a panel on ‘The democratic impact of social media abuse towards women in politics’ as part of the Imagine! Festival of Politics and Ideas programme. This panel was jointly hosted by the John and Pat Hume Foundation and Queens University Belfast, beginning at 6pm, in the Canada Room, Queens University Belfast.

The speakers for this event were: 

• Hannah Philips, Respectful Politics Policy Manager at The Jo Cox Foundation.
• Nóirín O’Sullivan, Chair of Fair Participation in Public Life and former Garda Commissioner.
• Cara Hunter, SDLP MLA.
• Chaired by Dr Aishling Mc Morrow (QUB).

The John and Pat Hume Foundation believe respectful debate on competing ideas are an essential and healthy feature of public discourse in free societies. As John Hume often said; ‘The answer to difference is to respect it.’  

Today, differences in political discourse are too often perceived and experienced as negative, acrimonious, partisan, and polarising as some politicians, their followers and opponents engage in hostile rhetoric.

Our work on #respectfulpolitics has been inspired by the Jo Cox Foundation which advocates for the implementation of recommendations to address the problem of violence, abuse and intimidation of elected representatives on national, regional and local levels.