The project “The Activist, the Archivist, and the Researcher: Novel Collaborative Strategies of Transnational Research, Archiving and Exhibiting Social and Political Dissent in Europe (19th-21st centuries)” (ACTIVATE) fosters inter-sectorial and interdisciplinary collaboration through the international research cooperation of 16 academic and non-academic institutions from 7 countries across Western, Central and Eastern Europe. ACTIVATE’s objective is to develop innovative methodologies and new knowledge as well as share best practice based on the principles of diversity, inclusiveness and open science between researchers, archivists, curators and public educators through a reflective approach on social and political dissent in a long-term and comparative perspective. By focusing on the transnational circulation of people, ideas, discourse, practice and archives, ACTIVATE aims first to contribute to a new narrative on European protest and its relations with non-European spaces. Secondly, the project engages reflective archival, research and exhibiting practices to explore the role and impact of archives on different space and time scales, approaching them as an ecosystem of active agents of memory and change. Through secondments and networking, ACTIVATE partners will share their expertise and best practice on material, audiovisual and born-digital documents and data. They will organise thematic seminars, workshops, training and public programmes to increase institutional outreach that will serve as a model for future endeavours, ensuring cooperative relationships and impact on the wider community beyond the life of the project. ACTIVATE strives for new synergies between academic research and heritage institutions, fostering better knowledge, integration and promotion of dispersed cultural heritage, which European democracies need to preserve with care.