For decades, scholars and civil society institutions have called for increased public participation in STI, and political institutions have been taking up the request . In fact, drumming up responses from key stakeholder groups might be as much a problem as trying to filter out excessive demands. It provides a review of the literature on theory and practice of PASE activities, summarises the topical collections contributions regarding current international cases and analyses respective PASE limits and benefits, thereby promoting its conceptual and practical understanding. In such cases, governments may adopt one or a mix of our above strategies, yet containment of these outside forms of mobilisation may well prove challenging. McCombs and Shaw investigated presidential campaigns in 1968 1972 and 1976. Sci Technol Hum Values 35(4):444473, Devonshire IM, Hathway GJ (2014) Overcoming the barriers to greater public engagement. Additionally, Schroth et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2008.02.005, Ravetz J, Popper R, Miles I (2011) Applications of wild cards and weak signals to the grand challenges & thematic priorities of the European Research Area (ERA Toolkit), van Rij V (2010) Joint horizon scanning: identifying common strategic choices and questions for knowledge. Sustain Sci 7(S1):2543. Health Policy 70(3):281290. Agenda Setting Theory Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media - the ability to tell us what issues are important. The concluding discussion speaks to the strengths of the proposed typology, and to points an agenda on advancing the scholarship on agenda-setting tools. This is also referred to as open coding in grounded theory [78], aimed at at a true description without bias owing to the preconceptions of the researcher, an understanding of the material in terms of the material [76]. The term was first used by McCombs and Shaw in 1972 to refer to the mass media as laying emphasis on certain . 2. Impose: It is important to note that the first three tools in Table 1 do not deal with the governmental policy style of imposition where government simply imposes its policy outcomes on existing policy communities (see Richardson, Citation2018). Privacy Similar work shows that not all groups follow the invitations of policymakers to respond. Aiming at producing sustainable strategies for responsible socio-technical change, research funding can benefit from combining forward-looking and public participation to elicit socially robust knowledge by consulting with multi-actors, including citizens [75]. This underlines the importance of several factors in procedural designs, which can limit coercive power through, e.g. Continuity of the process and face-to-face participation were procedural aspects identified to support co-creation: whilst a series of workshops provided a sense of stability for participants, who were thus able to build sequential lines of arguments [81], ongoing network activities over several years provided the necessary trust for sharing sensible data and practices which were then copied, adapted, and combined [84]. The media also influence the next step in the communication process, our understanding and perspective on the topics in the news. Examples of these are tools such as consultations, working groups or consultative committees. Quantitative data, modelling and qualitative storytelling helped to make complex phenomena visible and understandable for public actors [81]. https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-6625/2/4/003, Stilgoe J, Owen R, Macnaghten P (2013) Developing a framework for responsible innovation. NanoEthics 11(1):93106. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11102780, Woolley JP, McGowan ML, Teare HJA, Coathup V, Fishman JR, Settersten RA, Sterckx S, Kaye J, Juengst ET (2016) Citizen science or scientific citizenship? Current governance of science, technology and innovation (STI) faces tough challenges to meet demands arising from complex issues such as societal challenges [1,2,3] or the United Nations Sustainable Development GoalsFootnote 1. Technology assessment over the last decades [8, 9, 68]. Moreover, face-to-face encounters fostered prosocial behaviour, collaboration, and increased participation and innovative thinking [81]. We might expect this to occur after an election that brings with it a change of government, or in areas where their manifesto pledges are critical to re-election. [84] describe how agronomic techniques in organic farming have been improved, yields stabilised and increased, and actual discoveries made, for example the allelopathic function of certain species used as cover crop. Procedural tools, however, do not directly affect production of goods and services, but affect how policy is formulated and/or implemented. Agenda setting uses the theory of accessibility when deciding what stories to run, how often to run them, and where to place them. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748907275, Book Put simply, governments can create groups that generate the policy demand for their preferred policy programs (see Bland, Citation2010 on policy feedback). This latter contribution seems particularly salient given that the policy styles concept is at its core about characterising the way governments approach problem-solving, and the relationship between government and societal actors (see discussion in Howlett & Josun, Citation2018, p. 6). Eur J Futures Res 9, 8 (2021). Balzs et al. https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2020-01/51134-2020-01-historicalbudgetdata.xlsx. The process involves a variety of interests is seen as the strengths of the policy cycle because the decisions are more rational. 176-87. PLoS ONE 13(3):e0193579. Public Underst Sci 23(1):415. Balzs et al. These are the boundaries in between which researchers later navigate. To clarify the strength of engagement, Manaf et al. Another way to expand on the typology of agenda-setting instruments is to link it to the discussion of high versus low-cost strategies, developed by Cobb and Ross (Citation1997). Int J Soc Ecol Sustain Dev 1(1):4169. Here, they describe the organisers of PASE as non-neutral actors who exercise agency when they translate and transfer issues into respective networks and agendas. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662504042690, Ravetz JR (2011) Postnormal science and the maturing of the structural contradictions of modern European science. Even though RRI is shifting its concept, its main dimensions inclusion, anticipation, responsiveness and reflexivity are established, with the addition of two emerging dimensions, i.e. This concentration on agenda-setting instruments and styles holds particular salience for interest groups scholars, not least because the literature typically considers organized interests as one of the key agents in initiating policy demands. [85], too, observed mutual learning between experts, practitioners and lay audiences on substantive research topics. Consequently, the first two paradigms of science literacy and public understanding of science are not superseded by the dialogical form of science and society relation, but continue to simultaneously inform research and policy [22]. Stakeholders previously unknown to each other get the opportunity to interact on topics which affect them directly, discussing contradicting or competing viewpoints to explicitly highlight differences, and even partially overcome those [81]. There is however limited engagement between scholarship on interest groups and this ongoing discussion around agenda-setting tools. [80] highlight how citizens input into holistic, systemic and transdisciplinary research displays high embeddedness into local, cultural, and social context. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 157177, Durn JM, Pirtle Z (2020) Epistemic standards for participatory technology assessment: suggestions based upon well-ordered science. Introduction. (a) Democracy: counteracting a crisis of representative democracy by alleviating the general lack of transparency of political processes by involving the public more directly, ensuring a consideration of different opinions; (b) function: improving effectiveness of decisions on controversial issues when disagreement exists within scientific communities on a magnitude of problems and their solutions whilst public trust in experts simultaneously declines; (c) normativity: the moral obligation of involving a wider public in decisions on matters of public interest. TATuP Zeitschrift fr Technikfolgenabschtzung in Theorie und Praxis 27(2):5359. NanoEthics 10(1):6374. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scs026, Article Enhancing reflexivity is an often-mentioned benefit of PASE activities. A related question focuses on the capacities of governments (see e.g. Each case included in this paper points towards the dynamics of change and continuity. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001761, Grunwald A, Hocke P (2010) In: Kaiser M, Kurath M, Maasen S, Rehmann-Sutter C (eds) The risk debate on nanoparticles: contribution to a normalisation of the science/society relationship? Sci Public Policy 39(2):208221. A selection bias towards elitist representations of futures leads to the aforementioned mechanism of rendering entire groups in the population to not having futures [66], with a direct link to the importance of recruitment in participatory settings and therefore also concerns about insufficient inclusiveness as a limiting factor for successful PASE activities. As far back as 1922 the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. Here, Schroth et al. Schroth et al. R&D Manag 48(1):724. The topical collection maps selected international cases in the field, analyses barriers and drivers for participatory agenda setting, thereby develops its conceptual understanding further. Sci Public Policy 39(2):191207. Diversifying stakeholder dialogues and enabling citizens to demonstrate greater agency enhances reflexive capacities [80]. Three streams Problem stream: Represents information and events that may unchain a series of events related to placing or eliminating an issue from the agenda. Klagenfurt, Hsieh H-F, Shannon SE (2005) Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Methods and methodologies continue to evolve, not only driven by countless activities and actors on several levels, from local to global, but also topic-wise from single technologies to engaging with questions of macro-level governance. Politically neutral boundary organisations can also foster the growth of networks between diverse social groups and therefore foster collaboration [81]. It also allows governments to exploit the routine and traditions of existing political institutions what Hilgartner and Bosk (Citation1981) refer to as institutional rhythm which dictate the recurrence of an issue onto the agenda at regular intervals. SAGE Open 4(1):2158244014523791, Abma TA (2018) Dialogue and deliberation: new approaches to including patients in setting health and healthcare research agendas. [85] show that several research questions emerged during the PASE, which were previously largely ignored by health research, whilst Matschoss et al. This current topical collection collects theoretical contributions as well as empirical papers regarding cases and methods of participatory agenda setting activities to map international progress in this upcoming field of research and practice. In that context, creating regular systems of policy review can help to build new communities around the imposed agenda. To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. This argument is in line with Bora and Hausendorf [41] who critiqued participatory science governance, and Stilgoe et al. Is the decision fostered by certain path dependencies or an overarching policy style to managing demands (Halpin & Fraussen, Citation2021)? Sci Eng Ethics 26(2):533574. Howlett & Tosun, Citation2021). Agenda-setting instruments: means and st . : Procedural Policy Tools in Theory and Practice, The tools approach in contemporary policy sciences, Governmental agenda setting-styles and instruments: a possible typology, Conclusion: Advancing Research on Agenda-Setting Instruments, https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2021.1955489, https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2021.1907653. One can imagine using parliamentary inquiries to foster new demands especially if they are committees chaired by opposition parties. Mediators facilitated discussions between scientists, policymakers, and the public, supported by the co-creation of boundary objects such as data-driven models, to stimulate complex systems thinking in order to imagine alternative futures. Routinise: Perhaps the most common family of instruments are those that seek to move somewhat ill-structured or chaotic patterns of engagement with organized interests into more routinised forms. https://doi.org/10.4018/jsesd.2010010105, Miller K, McAdam R, McAdam M (2018b) A systematic literature review of university technology transfer from a quadruple helix perspective: toward a research agenda. Whilst knowledge integration is uncontested, the authors nevertheless state that much less is known about the how, which is in line with previous findings regarding the often prevalent implicitness of knowledge on knowledge integration [4]. Futures 107:98106. Boussaguet L (2015) Participatory mechanisms as symbolic policy instruments? https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scs020, Lakom M, Hlavov R, Machackova H (2019) Open science and the science-society relationship. For instance, defining a problem in a particular way, and attributing blame to particular agents or processes, is a central mechanism through which policymakers set the scope for a consultation, taskforce or inquiry. For instance, research has shown that a small minority of all government consultations attract the majority of the group responses, with most being replied to by fewer than 10 actors (Baumgartner & Leech, Citation2001; Halpin, Citation2011). when new knowledge is gained by solving the co-created research topics, which is then put into practice, or by changing ideas and believes or paradigms. Here, the question of whom to engage in such settings has evolved considerably over the years, whilst the triple helix has long been the main model for a reflexive innovation system, involving academia, industry and governments [18]. Abstract. The agenda-setting function is a 3 part-process. The authors use ethnographic methods to analyse the learning and empowerment processes of a participatory research network consisting of farmers, scientists, public officials and managers of private companies who are concerned with organic rice production in Italy. Agenda setting is a specific way of shaping futures by guiding the allocation of significant funds towards the chosen targets or fields of priority. Sci Technol Hum Values 37(5):506527, Krzywoszynska A, Matt W, Buckley A, Chiles P, Gregson N, Holmes H, Mawyin J (2018) Opening up the participation laboratory: the cocreation of publics and futures in upstream participation. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 139:3241. J Innov Entrep 1(1):2. https://doi.org/10.1186/2192-5372-1-2, Bauer MW, Allum N, Miller S (2007) What can we learn from 25 years of PUS survey research?