Public Engagement in Science and Technology Policy 1

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

The massive promotion of certain emerging technologies and research fields is increasingly accompanied by measures that do not only observe and analyse a potentially unruly public, but also seek to mobilize and involve the public in the policy discourse. Deliberation and participation in technology policy, or simply “public engagement” (PE), is supposed to shed light on social and ethical aspects of future developments, to anticipate and defuse potential social controversies about these technologies, and render communication between decision-makers and the public more egalitarian and democratic.

Participatory PE formats which have been developed to function as democratic and epistemic add-ons to established democratic procedures in specific national contexts have diffused into new national and transnational political-institutional contexts with new political and epistemic requirements and demarcations. This trend that is visible across the OECD and has brought about a wealth of social science theorizing and, often, the practical involvement of the social sciences in PE events raises several issues that will be examined by this panel.

First, from a structural perspective, the following questions arise: which mechanisms explain why and how the trend toward PE manifests itself in different national political cultures? Is PE creating new epistemic and political demarcation lines between the public and the science and policy subsystems?

Second, social scientists may be both the analysts and designers of PE events, and mediators between society and technology. How can the role/agency of the social sciences in PE processes be conceptualized? Which role conflicts or normative dilemmas arise from it?

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / Public engagement in science and technology policy

Chair

• Franz Seifert, University of Vienna

Individual Presentations

• Are we talking to the public about emerging quantum technology? - Tara Roberson, Centre for Public Awareness of Science

• Constructing Public Engagement: Unexamined Assumptions In Framing Science And Technology Policy Problems - Christian Ross, Arizona State University

• Moving across national borders? The Europeanization of the Anti-Biotech Movement - Franz Seifert, University of Vienna

• Public Engagement: The case of stakeholder committees in research organisations in France - Lucile Ottolini, INRA / INERIS

Session Organizers

• Franz Seifert, University of Vienna

• Camilo Fautz, Institute for Technology Assessment and System Analysis (ITA)