This is an outdated version published on August 13, 2024. Read the most recent version.

Challenges to ethical public engagement in research funding: a perspective from practice

List of Authors

  1. Kalli Giannelos ,  
  2. Martijn Wiarda ,  
  3. Neelke Doorn
Article Authors & roles Authors Peer review record Peer review Metrics
Cite

Abstract

European research funding organizations (RFOs) are increasingly experimenting with public engagement in their funding activities. This case study draws attention to the challenges they face in preparing, implementing, and evaluating ethical public engagement in the context of setting funding priorities, formulating calls for proposals, and evaluating project proposals. We discuss challenges related to seven themes: (1) recruiting participants; (2) commitments and expectations; (3) meaningful dialogue and equal engagement; (4) accommodating vulnerability; (5) funding call formulations; (6) lack of expertise in engagement ethics; and (7) uncertainty, resource constraints, and external factors. To address these challenges, we propose the following seven interventions: (1) developing comprehensive recruitment strategies with experienced recruiters and community organizations; (2) establishing clear communication of roles, expectations, and outcomes through codes of conduct; (3) training mediators to address power imbalances; (4) designing flexible engagement methods and providing tailored support; (5) implementing collaborative feedback loops for inclusive funding call formulation; (6) enhancing ethical standards through internal expertise and external advisory inputs; and (7) developing adaptive strategies for flexible and ethical public engagement. These recommendations emphasize the need for context-adaptive insights to support funding organizations to implement ethical public engagement activities, even when faced with organizational constraints and a lack of ethical expertise.

Corresponding author
Kalli Giannelos
0000-0001-8704-4484
Grant information

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No [872441](Participatory Real Life Experiments in Research and Innovation Funding Organisations on Ethics [PRO-Ethics]).

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Copyright
© 2024 Kalli Giannelos (Corresponding Author, Co-Author); Martijn Wiarda (Co-Author); Neelke Doorn (Co-Author) Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

First version published
Latest version published

Comments

Authors & roles

Kalli Giannelos

Governance and Regulation Chair, University of Paris Dauphine-PSL, Paris, Île-de-France, 75016, France

Centre for Political Research, Sciences Po, Paris, Île-de-France, 75007, France

Roles
Corresponding Author, Co-Author, Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing
0000-0001-8704-4484

Martijn Wiarda

Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

Roles
Co-Author, Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing
0000-0002-3059-0182

Neelke Doorn

Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

Roles
Co-Author, Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

Downloads over the last 12 months:

Cited by

via Crossref

View citing articles