Public Participation, Science and Society

The field of public participation is developing fast, with phenomena such as citizen science and crowdsourcing extending the resource base of research, stimulating innovation and making science more accessible to the general population. Promoting public participation means giving more weight to citizens and civil society actors in the definition of research needs and in the implementation of research and innovation. As yet, there is limited understanding of the implications of widespread use of public participation and as a result, there is a risk that it will become a burden for research and an obstacle to bridging the gap between research and society. This volume presents the findings of a three-year international study on innovative public participation. The resulting work studies the characteristics and trends of innovative public participation through a global sample of 38 case studies. It provides theoretical generalisations on the dynamics of public participation, suggestions for an evaluation framework and clear empirical examples of how public participation works in practice. Illustrated by best practice cases, the authors identify characteristics which contribute to successful public participation. The book is aimed primarily at scholars and practitioners of public participation, as well as research managers, policy makers and business actors interested in related issues. There is also a secondary market for students and scholars of European governance studies, sociology and political sciences.

Mikko Rask is Adjunct Professor and Principal Investigator at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Saule Maciukaite-Zviniene is Senior Researcher at Vilnius University, Lithuania, and a Policy Adviser for the Republic of Lithuania on innovation, research and education, and an Expert of the European Commission. Loreta Tauginiene is Researcher in Ethics Management and Head of the Academic Ethics Centre at Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania. Vytautas Dikcius is Professor at Vilnius University Business School (VUBS), Lithuania. Kaisa Matschoss is Adjunct Professor at the University of Eastern Finland, and works as a university researcher at the Consumer Society Research Centre at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Timo Aarrevaara is a Professor of Public Management at the University of Lapland, Finland. Luciano d'Andrea is a sociologist who has been working on issues at the cross roads of social dynamics, economics and technological transformation.

Part I Analytical framework: how to study public engagement 1. Introduction: PE in the context of research and innovation 2. Methodology: exploring and evaluating innovative PE processes 3. Conceptual framework: PE as part of dynamic and responsible governance of R&I 4. Research questions Part II Results: learnings from innovative PE processes 5. Empirical data: what kind of cases are studied 6. What makes PE innovative 7. What is participatory performance 8. How to evaluate PE 9. Discussion: What are the benefits and limitations of PE in developing better R&I activity