Adding the Citizen Voice: Participatory Socio-Scientific Policymaking

This session focuses on the practice and growth of participatory citizen policymaking, globally and, increasingly, in the U.S. policy landscape. This method engages representative groups of everyday citizens, reflecting diverse and complementary societal perspectives, in considering and making substantive recommendations about issues at the intersection of science and society and informing the development of public policies. A panel of practitioners representing international and U.S. perspectives will present motivations, methods, tools, and results from specific local, national, and global citizen consultations held on a variety of issues  such as climate and energy policy, asteroid detection and defense, and nuclear waste siting. Presentations will address issues and considerations pertaining to the design and implementation of these citizen consultations, including the translation and presentation of complex scientific and policy information for lay participant groups; the formulation of relevant and usable questions for citizen deliberation; the transmission of participant recommendations to governmental authority; and the interpretation and dissemination of outcomes and results. After reviewing a range of models, attendees will brainstorm and recommend strategies, challenges, and opportunities for increasing the citizen voice in socio-scientific policymaking.