POIESIS partners have conducted 7 Roundtable Workshops over the Autumn (one in each country) involving more than 84 institutional stakeholders across the 7 consortium countries (Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, France and Greece), some of them already involved in previous phases of the project, most notably on the Focus Groups study.
The roundtables were designed to bring together institutional stakeholders in order 1) to assess the relevance and feasibility of the priorities identified in the focus group study (see D.3.2: Focus Groups – Findings. Exploring Institutional Roles in Fostering Public Trust in Science), 2) to explore the potential for translating these overarching priorities into concrete policy recommendations, while anticipating and addressing potential challenges to their implementation; and 3) to discuss the organizational tensions or forms of ambivalence inherent to scientific organizations.
Each roundtable highlighted the main priorities of the participants and the challenges they face. Beyond individual national examples, these priorities and insights reflect the diverse concerns of participants and the multifaceted nature of the challenges ahead.
Several cross-cutting insights emerged, which are crucial to informing and shaping the work that lies ahead:
The roundtable discussions have highlighted the complexity and nuance required to translate identified priorities into actionable policy recommendations. While the common insights and goals identified with the focus groups were frequently, but not always, confirmed by the roundtables, the diversity of perspectives and contexts underscores the need for a flexible and context-sensitive approach.
The completion of the Roundtable Workshops marks the conclusion of the POIESIS engagement events and research activities. Their main findings and recommendations will be used as an input for the POIESIS final event, a Scenario Workshop which will be conducted in May in Brussels and will co-create with stakeholders, with a focus on policy makers, the final POIESIS policy recommendations for tackling societal mistrust in science and for strengthening the co-creation of R&I contents by society.
You can download and read the full results of the POIESIS Roundtables (D3.3) here.