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9.4.5 Type 5: Participatory Knowledge Development and Use
The “participatory knowledge development and use” knowledge exchange type
describes actor participation in research projects and in policymaking. Who these
actors are, how they are included in the process and for what purpose can vary. To
show this variety more clearly, we have differentiated the subtypes of this knowledge
exchange type into two groups: the first three subtypes focus on how participation
is organised. The fourth to seventh subtypes describe the reasons participation is
taking place, i.e. the purpose of introducing participation. Accordingly, the subtypes
include two different aspects of participation (how and why) that overlap. There are
seven subtypes in total:
Type 5.1: Coproduction of knowledge through participation. This is characterised
by actor participation where knowledge is being coproduced by scientists, policymakers or actors from civil society. Coproduction means that actors can be involved,
e.g. through stakeholder workshops, expert interviews or assessments. In transdisciplinary research projects, the coproduction of knowledge begins immediately, with
different actors jointly defining the problem and setting project goals.
Type 5.2: Retrieval of knowledge through participation. This is focused on actor
participation in workshops or surveys to retrieve knowledge. Here, participation does
not imply a joint act of generating knowledge, but a demand-side act of requesting
and receiving knowledge from actors.
Type 5.3: Learning through participation. This entails enabling individual learning
or mutual learning between scientists and policymakers.
Type 5.4: Participation to acquire new input. The goal of this is to understand the
variety of the actors’ knowledge, opinions and interests; participating actors may be
scientists or policymakers, as well as individuals from civil society.
Type 5.5: Participation in knowledge evaluation. This is characterised by actor
participation with the goal of generating specific feedback on documents, prototypes, results, solutions or recommendations. Here, participation does not focus on
acquiring new input, but on getting feedback and making evaluations.
Type 5.6: Participation designed to preserve knowledge gains. This concept refers
to participation that incorporates crucial influential people who would need to be
consulted before a policy could be applied.
Type 5.7: Strategic participation. “Strategic participation” refers to participation
as a strategy to legitimise outcomes. Policymakers may ask for feedback by scientists, or scientists may be (formally) included in policymaking by public officials.
Participation is only “pro forma”, and designed to indicate that the actors have been
involved, rather than actually exchanging knowledge as the primary goal.
M. Pütz and R. Brassel
9.4.5 Type 5: Participatory Knowledge Development and Use
The “participatory knowledge development and use” knowledge exchange type
describes actor participation in research projects and in policymaking. Who these
actors are, how they are included in the process and for what purpose can vary. To
show this variety more clearly, we have differentiated the subtypes of this knowledge
exchange type into two groups: the first three subtypes focus on how participation
is organised. The fourth to seventh subtypes describe the reasons participation is
taking place, i.e. the purpose of introducing participation. Accordingly, the subtypes
include two different aspects of participation (how and why) that overlap. There are
seven subtypes in total:
Type 5.1: Coproduction of knowledge through participation. This is characterised
by actor participation where knowledge is being coproduced by scientists, policymakers or actors from civil society. Coproduction means that actors can be involved,
e.g. through stakeholder workshops, expert interviews or assessments. In transdisciplinary research projects, the coproduction of knowledge begins immediately, with
different actors jointly defining the problem and setting project goals.
Type 5.2: Retrieval of knowledge through participation. This is focused on actor
participation in workshops or surveys to retrieve knowledge. Here, participation does
not imply a joint act of generating knowledge, but a demand-side act of requesting
and receiving knowledge from actors.
Type 5.3: Learning through participation. This entails enabling individual learning
or mutual learning between scientists and policymakers.
Type 5.4: Participation to acquire new input. The goal of this is to understand the
variety of the actors’ knowledge, opinions and interests; participating actors may be
scientists or policymakers, as well as individuals from civil society.
Type 5.5: Participation in knowledge evaluation. This is characterised by actor
participation with the goal of generating specific feedback on documents, prototypes, results, solutions or recommendations. Here, participation does not focus on
acquiring new input, but on getting feedback and making evaluations.
Type 5.6: Participation designed to preserve knowledge gains. This concept refers
to participation that incorporates crucial influential people who would need to be
consulted before a policy could be applied.
Type 5.7: Strategic participation. “Strategic participation” refers to participation
as a strategy to legitimise outcomes. Policymakers may ask for feedback by scientists, or scientists may be (formally) included in policymaking by public officials.
Participation is only “pro forma”, and designed to indicate that the actors have been
involved, rather than actually exchanging knowledge as the primary goal.