---
title: "RadicalxChange is launching a Melbourne chapter — here's what it is"
date: 2026-08-07
summary: "RadicalxChange Foundation, the quadratic-voting/Plurality movement co-founded on ideas from Taiwan's Audrey Tang, is forming an Australian chapter with a Melbourne launch event on 27 August 2026."
authors:
  - Brian Khuu
  - Claude
ai_assist: drafted
origin: event-coverage
event:
  url: https://events.humanitix.com/radicalxchange-foundation-in-melbourne
  title: "An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne"
  host: RadicalxChange Foundation
  cta: "RSVP for 27 August →"
  date: 2026-08-27
  time: "18:00"
  end_time: "20:00"
  note: "This is a RadicalxChange event, not a DOD event — we're just pointing at it."
  image: blog/2026-08-07-radicalxchange-melbourne-event-banner.jpg
categories:
  - civic tech
  - event
tags:
  - radicalxchange
  - quadratic-voting
  - taiwan
location:
  latitude: -37.8070772
  longitude: 144.9863843
  name: Today, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
  address: "Level 8/54 Wellington Street, Collingwood VIC 3066"
---

If you're in Melbourne on **Thursday 27 August**, come meet RadicalxChange Foundation — the international movement behind quadratic voting, quadratic funding, and the "Plurality" philosophy — as it launches its Australian chapter.

<!-- more -->

## Go if you can

["An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne"](https://events.humanitix.com/radicalxchange-foundation-in-melbourne) runs **6–8pm, Thursday 27 August 2026**, at Today (Level 8/54 Wellington Street, Collingwood), co-hosted with Small Giants Academy.[^humanitix]

It's a conversation between **Jess Scully**, RadicalxChange's Executive Director, and **Tamsin Jones**, on "the role civic tech can play in building common knowledge and moral legibility to cooperate across difference" — with examples spanning polarisation-bridging on urban density in Sydney, climate risk response in Colorado, faith communities shaping AI values, and community voice in data-centre governance.[^humanitix] Tickets ask for a $15 catering contribution, described by organisers as not a barrier to attending.[^humanitix]

Worth going for: this is a brand-new Melbourne chapter forming right now, not an established local group — an early chance to help shape it, and to talk directly with the people building quadratic voting/funding and Plurality rather than just reading about them.

<p style="text-align:center; margin: 1.5rem 0;">
  <a class="hero-cta-btn hero-cta-primary" href="https://events.humanitix.com/radicalxchange-foundation-in-melbourne" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RSVP for 27 August →</a>
</p>

## DOD contingent

A group of us is planning to attend together — informal for now, not an official DOD contingent yet. That could change if we hear back from RadicalxChange that they're happy to have us come along as a group. Either way, if you're a DOD member (or want to be), [join the coordination thread on Telegram](https://t.me/joinchat/HNk_UBX8A7jBPJPbAZU5Zg) to find the rest of the group and sort out where to meet beforehand.

## Who's behind it

RadicalxChange was founded by economist [E. Glen Weyl](https://glenweyl.com/) in 2018, after his book *Radical Markets* sparked wider discussion about market-based mechanisms for democratic participation.[^glenweyl] Its central contributions are **quadratic voting** (letting people express how strongly they feel about something, not just which way they lean) and **quadratic funding** (a matching-funds formula that favours breadth of support over the size of any single donor). Both have been piloted in Colorado, Nashville, New York, the UK, Brazil, and Sydney.[^rxc-about]

The foundation's current Executive Director, Jess Scully, previously served as an elected Councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, where she ran a citizens' jury to help shape the city's 2030–2050 strategic plan — and wrote *Glimpses of Utopia: Real Ideas for a Fairer World*.[^rxc-jess]

Full details are in the new [RadicalxChange Foundation](../../organisations/radicalxchange.md) entry in the Democracy Landscape.

## The Taiwan connection

RadicalxChange's flagship idea, **Plurality**, was co-authored by Weyl with [Audrey Tang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Tang), Taiwan's former Digital Minister and the driving government champion behind [vTaiwan](../../organisations/vtaiwan.md) — the Pol.is-based consultation platform DOD wrote about in [May 2026](2026-05-25-taiwan-digital-democracy.md). Tang spoke at Small Giants Academy's Wisdom & Action Forum in Melbourne in May 2026,[^wisdom-action] the same co-host behind this RadicalxChange launch — which is likely why Tang's name has been circulating in Melbourne civic-tech conversations. Note that they aren't listed as a speaker at the 27 August event itself.

## Why it's on our radar

DOD doesn't endorse specific mechanisms, but quadratic voting/funding and Plurality sit squarely in the same territory we track: participatory decision-making, civic tech, and how deliberation scales beyond a room. A new Melbourne chapter is a chance to see the ideas discussed locally, in person, by the people building them.

## Sources & further reading

- [An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne](https://events.humanitix.com/radicalxchange-foundation-in-melbourne) — Humanitix event listing (source of the banner image above, the organisers' own share graphic for this event)
- [RadicalxChange Foundation](../../organisations/radicalxchange.md) — DOD Democracy Landscape entry
- [Taiwan's digital democracy experiment: what it shows, what it doesn't](2026-05-25-taiwan-digital-democracy.md) — DOD, May 2026
- [Wisdom & Action Forum 2026 — Speakers](https://www.wisdomandaction.com.au/) — Small Giants Academy, confirms Audrey Tang as a speaker
- [Jess Scully](https://www.jessscully.com/about) — bio

[^humanitix]: "Join us to learn about civic tech for democracy and community, and explore how our tools might serve your community or sector." ["An invitation to meet RadicalxChange Foundation in Melbourne"](https://events.humanitix.com/radicalxchange-foundation-in-melbourne), Humanitix, accessed 7 August 2026.

[^glenweyl]: "Founded by economist Glen Weyl in 2018, the RadicalxChange Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the RxC movement, to building community, and to education about democratic innovation." E. Glen Weyl, ["RadicalxChange"](https://glenweyl.com/radicalxchange/), personal site.

[^rxc-about]: "RadicalxChange sparks imagination for transformative systems change." ["About"](https://www.radicalxchange.org/about/), RadicalxChange Foundation.

[^rxc-jess]: "Jess Scully is Executive Director of RadicalxChange and an advocate for civic imagination." [Jess Scully](https://www.radicalxchange.org/team/jess-scully/), RadicalxChange Foundation.

[^wisdom-action]: "Audrey Tang (Virtual)... Cyber Ambassador at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan (R.O.C.)" and "Trust by Design: Digital Democracy in the Age of AI" [Wisdom & Action Forum 2026 — Speakers](https://www.wisdomandaction.com.au/), Small Giants Academy, 5-7 May 2026, Melbourne.
