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People's Inquiry on Nanotechnology and the Environment
Method(s) Used
Name of person who posted the project: Karin Gavelin (Involve)
Location of project: United Kingdom
Date when the project started: 2006
Date when the project ended/project ongoing: 2006
Background to project: The People's Inquiry was part of Nanodialogues, a series of four practical experiments to explore whether the public can meaningfully inform decision-making processes related to emerging technologies in four different institutional contexts.
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Purpose of project: Objectives included:
- Experiment in a theoretically informed way with new methods of upstream public dialogue in societal debates about nanotechnologies.
- Ensure that these dialogue experiments are framed in a way that can inform processes of institutional decision-making and priority-setting.
- Generate intellectual and practical resources for enriched public, policy, and scientific debate about the social implications of nanotechnologies.
- Identify wider lessons and insights that can inform the policy and practice of public engagement in science and technology.
Project activities: The Inquiry consisted of three deliberative workshops with a group of 13 east London residents, which focused on the use of nanoparticles to clean up chemically contaminated land. The workshops involved input from scientists, Environment Agency staff, government policy-makers, and other stakeholders, and ended with public participants drawing up a set of recommendations.
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Project results: After the process ended, a group of participants presented their recommendations to Defra. The final Nanodialogues report was launched in June 2007 to an audience of policy makers, research council staff, scientists and social scientists.
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Contact details: Website: http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/currentprojects/nanodialogues/
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Contact: Jack Stilgoe, Demos. jack@demos.co.uk
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