Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy

TY - JOUR

T1 - Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy

AU - Pidgeon, Nick

AU - Demski, Christina

AU - Butler, Catherine

AU - Parkhill, Karen

AU - Spence, Alexa

N1 - This is an author produced version of a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.

PY - 2014/9/16

Y1 - 2014/9/16

N2 - This paper examines some of the science communication challenges involved when designing and conducting public deliberation processes on issues of national importance. We take as our illustrative case study a recent research project investigating public values and attitudes toward future energy system change for the United Kingdom. National-level issues such as this are often particularly difficult to engage the public with because of their inherent complexity, derived from multiple interconnected elements and policy frames, extended scales of analysis, and different manifestations of uncertainty. With reference to the energy system project, we discuss ways of meeting a series of science communication challenges arising when engaging the public with national topics, including the need to articulate systems thinking and problem scale, to provide balanced information and policy framings in ways that open up spaces for reflection and deliberation, and the need for varied methods of facilitation and data synthesis that permit access to participants' broader values. Although resource intensive, national-level deliberation is possible and can produce useful insights both for participants and for science policy.

AB - This paper examines some of the science communication challenges involved when designing and conducting public deliberation processes on issues of national importance. We take as our illustrative case study a recent research project investigating public values and attitudes toward future energy system change for the United Kingdom. National-level issues such as this are often particularly difficult to engage the public with because of their inherent complexity, derived from multiple interconnected elements and policy frames, extended scales of analysis, and different manifestations of uncertainty. With reference to the energy system project, we discuss ways of meeting a series of science communication challenges arising when engaging the public with national topics, including the need to articulate systems thinking and problem scale, to provide balanced information and policy framings in ways that open up spaces for reflection and deliberation, and the need for varied methods of facilitation and data synthesis that permit access to participants' broader values. Although resource intensive, national-level deliberation is possible and can produce useful insights both for participants and for science policy.

KW - Energy system transitions

KW - National dialogue

KW - Public engagement

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907225927&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1317512111

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1317512111

M3 - Article

C2 - 25225393

AN - SCOPUS:84907225927

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 111

SP - 13606

EP - 13613

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - Supplement 4

ER -