Epistemic and Axiological Stakes of the Public Involvement in Science

The issue which my paper deals with concerns the involvement of “laypeople” in science. While amateurs have contributed to collect data in astronomy or ecology since a long time, the “participatory turn” of science has reached a new step. Participatory and community-based projects arise such as “open street map” or the “popular epidemiology surveys”, meanwhile scientific institutions carry out “citizen science” projects, and science policy-makers see the involvement of non-scientists as a new magic formula for enhancing the public confidence in science and innovation.

Relying on my current postdoctoral research, which focuses on the career of participatory projects related to biodiversity issues, I will explore epistemic and axiological controversies arising from debates about public involvement in scientific research. The aim is to understand the impacts that the critics of scientists, non-scientists or policy-makers have on the way of making “Citizen Science. It will be an opportunity to analyze how this opening up of science may reshape the borders between science and society.