Public Engagement in Energy Research

Henk Mulder,Jako Jellema

doi:10.3390/en9030125

Abstract

Public Engagement in Research is a key element in “Responsible Research and Innovation”; a cross-cutting issue in current European research funding. Public engagement can advance energy R&D, by delivering results that are more in-line with society’s views and demands; and collaboration also unlocks societal skills and knowledge. This paper structures the ways to look at engagement, and gives some pointers on how to implement it in energy R&D, with various levels of intensity. The publics to engage with can be citizens, future users, affected persons, but also organisations that represent them. We have selected methods and tools that showcase a broad range of types of engagement that have been applied in The Netherlands or the UK. The cases are grouped based on the role of the researcher in the engagement process. These roles relate to discussing with, consulting, involving, collaborating with and supporting the various publics. This study shows that there is a diversity of tools and methods already available—open to variation, combinations and further development- that facilitate the participation of society in energy research. Not only for democratic reasons, but also for instrumental benefits in creating innovations to help solve the Grand Societal Challenge of the energy transition.

Highlights

Public engagement with research is becoming an important element in public research funding
In our overarching project Engage 2020, we decided to distinguish between the involvement of citizens or civil society organisations (CSOs), when describing various methods for engagement, since the approaches and motivations usually differ
In 2007 the Q methodology was used as a preparation for a national biomass dialogue in

Summary

Introduction

Public engagement with research is becoming an important element in public research funding. This participation of citizens and their organizations in the research process can be seen as a complement to industry participation, which has been promoted for a longer time. This forces researchers to pay attention to “public engagement”, or, to phrase it in a more positive sense: it creates more opportunities for researchers who want to engage to do so. When considering considering public public participation participation in in policy making, the ladder of Arnstein (see Figure 1). Policy making, the ladder of Arnstein (see Figure 1) is a well‐known classification in eight categories [7].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion