Friday 24 April 2009, University of Birmingham
The opening mini-conference of the ESRC seminar series ‘Critical perspectives on public engagement in science and environmental risk’ explores the theoretical, methodological, empirical and practical dimensions of the emerging critical research agenda on participation in science and the environment. The morning session includes agenda setting presentations from leading scholars in STS, geography, and planning alongside reflective commentaries from practitioners in the field, followed by open plenary discussion to draw out connections between them. Key themes and research questions to be addressed throughout the seminar series will then be mapped out in afternoon workshop discussions.
Seminar report available here bham_rpt
To read more about the seminar series see here.
Programme
| 10.00am | Registration, the Undercroft (enter via Geography, R26 on campus map) |
| 10.30am | Welcome and Introduction (Biosciences E102, R27 on campus map) Professor Judith Petts (Pro-vice Chancellor, University of Birmingham) Dr Jason Chilvers (Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia) |
| 10.45am | Publics, politics and participation: some critical reflections from planning Professor Susan Owens (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge) |
| 11.10am | ‘Broadening out’ and ‘opening up’: precaution and accountability in public engagement Professor Andy Stirling (SPRU and STEPS Centre, University of Sussex) |
| 11.35am | The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable? science, engagement and the hunt for consensus Professor Alan Irwin (Copenhagen Business School) |
| 12.00pm | Reflective commentaries Professor Kathy Sykes (University of Bristol) Dr Darren Bhattachary (BMRB) Plenary discussion |
| 12.45pm | Buffet Lunch, the Undercroft |
| 1.45pm | Workshop Discussions: Critical reflections, themes and questions Critical reflections on participation in science and the environment, and generation of seminar themes and questions which provisionally include:♦ Genealogies, epistemologies and the co-production of public engagement ♦ Public engagement expertise, professionalisation, and actor roles/relations ♦ The effects of discourses of participation and power dynamics ♦ The framing, construction and performance of public engagement ♦ Transformational change, learning and reflexivity |
| 3.45pm | Plenary discussion and closing comments (Biosciences E102) |
| 4.30pm | Refreshments, the Undercroft |
