Deliberative research methods: What can public participation and citizen engagement offer to behavioural science?

Behavioural science has traditionally relied on experiments, surveys, and observational data to understand how people think and act, and often uses this evidence to influence and change behaviour through the design of policy and application of interventions. However, a growing body of deliberative research offers a different route to insight that is built on a dialogue between experts, practitioners, advocates, and of course citizens. It places public engagement as a central tenet of its method, and seeks to coproduce the conditions for change in a way that is embedded in the lived experience of the people and the structural conditions of society.

This webinar brings together a panel of experts working across deliberative democracy and behavioural science to explore what these methods can add to the discipline. Panellists will share short presentations drawing on their own research and practice and the session will close with an open Q&A, giving attendees the chance to put their own questions to the panel and discuss how these approaches might apply to their own work.

• We invite you to consider:
  - What can deliberative processes reveal that conventional behavioural methods cannot?
  - How do citizen engagement approaches change the way we frame behavioural problems and design interventions?
  - What are the practical and methodological challenges of bringing deliberation into behavioural science research?

Speakers:

• Sarah Allan, Freelance Deliberative Engagement Specialist
• Dr Julze Alejandre, BR-UK Research Fellow in Public Engagement, University of Edinburgh
• Professor Oliver Escobar, Professor of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation, The University of Edinburgh
• Claire Mellier, Knowledge & Practice Lead, Iswe and Co-founder Global Citizens’ Assembly
• Dr Dan Thorman, BR-UK Research Fellow, University of Sheffield
• Dr Andy Yuille, Research Fellow, Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester