Reflective research on the use of dialogue and deliberation at WUR

Read here about the interesting research Dr Nina de Roo is doing on dialogue at Wageningen University.

Wageningen, 2 May, Nina de Roo:

'Dialogue and deliberation are increasingly being promoted as means to reduce polarisation in the light of the wicked problems that society is facing these days (the effects of climate change, loss of biodiversity, persistent poverty and inequality, etc). Wageningen University and Research has embraced dialogue too, among others through the Wageningen Dialogues programme and the newly constructed Dialogue Centre (Omnia). In my post-doc, which is financed by the Social Sciences department of Wageningen University, I am conducting reflexive (action) research with the aim to increase the reflexive capacity of WUR’s when it comes to initiating, governing, and conducting dialogue and deliberation trajectories. I research both internal dialogues (within WUR) as well as external ones (with societal stakeholders). The main questions that guide my research are:

• What kinds of governance arrangements and process designs are appropriate for dialogues and deliberation processes that WUR takes part in or initiates, and how does this relate to the different objectives that dialogues and deliberation processes may have (e.g. exploration of research agendas, reduce polarisation, policy influence, etc.)?
• What mechanisms are in place to safeguard the quality, integrity, independence, legitimacy and responsive capacity of dialogue and deliberation processes at WUR (and how are these appreciated by participants?)
• How can dialogue and deliberation processes become an integral part of developing project proposals and implementing collaborative research programmes? What are barriers and enablers to dialogue and deliberation becoming an integral part of our work?'

Nina de Roo (PhD)
Postdoctoral researcher at Public Administration & Policy Group (PAP, SSG) and researcher at Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI, SSG)
Tel: +31 (0)317 486819
E-mail: nina.deroo@wur.nl