PATH

PATH (Participatory Approaches in Science and Technology) was a Coordination Action funded by theEuropean Commission 6th Framework Programme for Research, under the Science and Society programme. The aim of PATH was to form a network of interested parties concerned with the involvement of society in the deliberation of science-based policy issues. This group of academics, practitioners, policy-makers and stakeholders exchanged knowledge and developed future directions for public participation in science and technology issues. It focused specifically on two persistent and ongoing challenges: scale and representation. These two cross-cutting themes were explored at a generic level, and also illustrated and analysed via three case study areas. The case study areas have been selected to represent ongoing areas of debate, areas of current policy development and upcoming issues: genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, biodiversity conservation and nanotechnology.

The project ran an international workshop focussing on the issues of representation and scale, and an international conference which integrated elements of best practice and sketched out potential future directions for science-based policy deliberation.

Together with Felix Rauschmayer (UFZ), and Thomas Koetz (ICTA), Sybille van den Hove was in charge of the biodiversity case study. A publication resulted from the biodiversity work:

Rauschmayer, F., van den Hove, S., Koetz, T. (2008) ’Participation in EU biodiversity governance: How far beyond rhetoric?’, Environment and Planning C, 27(1), 42-58.