Demos and Greenpeace would like to invite you to take part in a workshop for European NGOs and others to share and learn from experiences of public participation in issues involving science.

We have seen recently a new enthusiasm across the EU for public participation. In the UK, Citizens’ Juries are being held up as a source of new political legitimacy, and recent policies on GM crops, hybrid embryos and nanotechnologies have all claimed to have involved some element of public dialogue.

But we are also seeing a credibility gap emerging. The UK’s recent energy review became the subject of a judicial review when Greenpeace called the attempt at public consultation a ‘sham.’ It seems that participation is being used to close down debate as much as to open it up.

Where does this all leave science, democracy and civil society? Does public participation undermine NGOs and scientists? Or does it empower them? How should NGOs deal with future issues, whether micro-generation, open source software, the ethics of stem cell research, clinical trials for drugs or synthetic biology, in a more democratic way?

The workshop will bring together participation experts, scientists and NGOs. Attendees at this workshop will all participate. But the conversation will be prompted by speakers including the following:

Doug Parr, Chief Scientist, Greenpeace UK
Robin Grove-White, Emeritus Professor, University of Lancaster
Richard Wilson, Director, Involve
Norbert Steinhaus, International Science Shop Network and the Citizen Participation in Science and Technology project
Jack Stilgoe, Senior Researcher, Demos

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to jack.stilgoe@demos.co.uk.

Grants are available for NGOs from the European Union to travel to the workshop. Please contact Jack to find out more.

This workshop is supported by the European Commission’s Science, Technology and Civil Society project, which looks for new research from dialogue between scientists and NGOs.