City Research Online

Abstract

The nature of public participation in EU research governance is an under-explored area. Assumptions that governance arrangements enable direct participation of ‘the public’ are identified in the academic literature on science communication. This paper considers the extent to which such assumptions can be supported. It presents findings from a preliminary investigation into the discursive construction of the ‘scientific citizen’ in selected official texts of the EU in the context of the development of the European Research Area, focusing on new research infrastructures with the legal status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium. Specific modes of participation are identified: as assessors of the accountability of decision-makers; as recipients and beneficiaries of scientists’ knowledge-based decisions; and as participants in the scientific process via open access arrangements. The participation of the ‘scientific citizen’ is constructed as linked but external to the decision-making processes.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Science and Public Policy following peer review. The version of record Ryan, L. (2015). Governance of EU research policy: Charting forms of scientific democracy in the European Research Area. Science and Public Policy, 42(3), pp. 300-314 is available online at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu047
Publisher Keywords:	governance; legitimacy; European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC); European Research Area; science communication
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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