Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, Durham University Tuesday 15 December 2009
The second workshop of the ESRC seminar series Critical Perspectives on Public Engagement in Science and Environmental Risk explored the incipient institutionalisation of public engagement and deliberation. Contemporary science policy has taken a distinct ‘deliberative turn’. Across a range of domains – biotechnology, the life sciences and nanotechnology to name but a few – recent government policy increasingly speaks of the incorporation of public engagement and the social sciences into the development of new research programmes. Thus while there is debate as to practical implications of new forms of deliberative or participatory governance in science policy – and the extent to which this deliberative rhetoric represents an authentic renewal of democracy – recent debate is marked by a consensus regarding the anticipatory and deliberative capacity of public engagement. However, such a consensus also begs many questions – how are forms of public engagement and deliberation being institutionalised in the governance of science, how can deliberative methods ‘anticipate’ potential public concerns, and will the incorporation of such techniques materially alter the direction of technoscientific innovation? More broadly concerns have been raised regarding the kinds of democracies being enacted in debates about the direction and purposes of technoscientific advance.
The workshop report is available here durham-report.
To read more about the seminar series see here.
Programme
10.30 am | Registration, the Joachim Room College of St Hild and St Bede |
11.00 am | Welcome and Introduction Professor Mike Pennington (Dean for Educational Outreach, Durham University) Dr Matthew Kearnes (Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, Department of Geography, Durham University) |
11.30 am | Anticipatory Governance Professor Dave Guston (Center for Science Policy and Outcomes, Arizona State University) |
12.15 pm | Initial responses |
12.30 pm | Buffet Lunch |
1.30 pm | Critical Responses 1 Is anticipation compatible with precaution? Dr. Javier Lezaun (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) Spaghetti Junction: ‘Public engagement’ as an object of study Dr. Sarah Davies (Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, Department of Geography, Durham University) Discussion |
2.15 pm | Critical Responses 2 Reflections on public engagement in the governance of science Suzanne King (People Science & Policy) Capture, conflict and construction: muddying the waters of public engagement Dr. Sujatha Raman (Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham) Discussion |
3.00 pm | Coffee/tea |
3.15 pm | Workshop discussion – two breakout groups |
4.00 pm | Report back Final reflections – Brian Wynne and Andy Stirling |
4.45 pm | Close |