Public participation and trust in risk decision-making: How is Canada doing?
Spring 2023 @Risk Book Launch
May 25, 2023 — All day
On Thursday, May 25 2023, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Public Policy hosted a special edition Food for Thought to celebrate the launch of our new edited book, Democratizing Risk Governance : Bridging Science, Expertise, Deliberation and Public Values, from the @Risk research project.
About the event:
Risk scholars and practitioners are grappling with how best to govern risk in the face of growing calls for public participation and trust-building in risk decision-making. Such calls raise many questions. Will involving the public lead to stronger or weaker risk decisions? Will it compromise evidence-based decision-making for risk or help to inform it? Will it amplify risk controversies or help to resolve them? Will it build or erode public trust in risk decisions? Importantly, how do you go about involving the public and building trust? And how is Canada doing?
The ISSP’s edited volume, Democratizing Risk Governance: Bridging Science, Expertise, Deliberation and Public Values, grapples with these questions and more in a variety of policy areas.
This book launch panel featured academic and practitioner members of the study’s research team. They shared their analysis and reflections on public participation and trust in risk governance drawing on detailed case studies in energy, public health and genomics. An audience discussion will follow.
Our panel speakers are:
- Laura Nourallah, doctoral candidate in public administration at the School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
- Kieran O'Doherty, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Guelph
- Frank Welsh, Former Director of Policy at the Canadian Public Health Association of Canada (retired)
Monica Gattinger
Book editor
Director, ISSP and Full Professor at the School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Dr. Gattinger is an award-winning researcher and highly sought-after speaker, adviser and media commentator in the energy and arts/cultural policy sectors. Her innovative research programme convenes business, government, Indigenous, civil society and academic leaders to address complex policy, regulatory and governance challenges. She has published widely in the energy and arts/cultural policy fields, with a focus on strengthening decision-making in the context of fast-past technological change and markets, changing social values, and lower levels of trust in governments, industry, science and expertise.
Food for thought is an ISSP monthly luncheon speaker series featuring cross-cutting science, society & policy discussions.
