The reflexive scientist: an approach to transforming public engagement

Rhian A. Salmon (), Rebecca K. Priestley and Joanna Goven
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Rhian A. Salmon: Victoria University of Wellington
Rebecca K. Priestley: Victoria University of Wellington
Joanna Goven: Kukupa Research Ltd

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2017, vol. 7, issue 1, No 6, 53-68

Abstract: Abstract Calls for greater public engagement with science (PES) are widespread, but there appears to be little agreement on the meaning and purpose of engagement across the various actors calling for it. This reflects a persistent gulf between PES scholars and scientists communicating with the public. We argue that direct engagement between PES scholars and scientist-communicators could, by facilitating greater reflexivity, lead to a step-change in the calibre and clarity of activities that are designed to support enhanced public engagement with science and technology. In this paper, we, as authors beginning from different perspectives, explore the potential of, and barriers to, a conversation between critical social scientists and members of the science community about public engagement. We demonstrate how and why the PES literature does not “speak for itself” to scientists but provides a starting point for conversation rather than a substitute for it. We then explore what reflexivity might mean for PES and argue for three important foci: political-economic context or politics of the field; institutional context; and personal assumptions. We then discuss barriers to, as well as strategies for, fostering such reflexivity, concluding that new models of authorship and publication are needed if this promise is to be fulfilled.

Keywords: Science communication; Public engagement with science; Science outreach; Reflexivity; Reflexive scientist (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s13412-015-0274-4

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