Nicole Seils, from CNS Projects, sub-contracted Wendy to design and run a deliberative workshop in conjunction with the Citizens’ Jury on Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance. The Citizens’ Jury was sponsored by the ACT Government, and the CTP Claimants workshop was an ‘uninvited’ process sponsored by a group of law firms. They were concerned that the voices of CTP claimants had not been adequately heard, so commissioned their own deliberative process.
The workshop involved a group of 13 CTP claimants randomly selected from a list of legal clients of the law firms. They were brought together for a day to share their stories, consider objectives for a CTP scheme that had been established by the citizens’ jury, and to reflect on elements of proposed models for a new CTP scheme. Wendy wrote a report from the workshop, which is available here.
This was a difficult and controversial project, as the workshop was seen by some to undermine the CJ process. The Canberra Times presented it as an ‘alternative jury’, but it was designed and run to provide additional information to assist in the jury’s decision-making. Wendy and Nicole worked hard to ensure the integrity of the process, and to ensure that it provided useful and relevant information to the jury, without presenting a particular position. The report has also been made available to inform the Government’s decision-making about the new scheme.
This Landcare group outside Canberra requested assistance to run a strategic
planning workshop. Wendy ran a half-day workshop with the Landcare
committee to help them work through multiple possible projects they could
commit to in protecting the environment and promoting sustainability around
Gunning.
Each Summer since January 2016, Wendy has delivered a course on Science
Dialogue: Practice and Theory through the Centre for the Public Awareness of
Science and the Australian National University. The course is run as an
undergraduate course, a Masters course, and a short professional course. Link:http://cpas.anu.edu.au/study/short-courses/science-dialogue-theory-and-practice-short-course The course is the only one of its kind that we are aware of, and Wendy designed it drawing on her knowledge and insights from Science, Technology and Society scholarship and her practical training and experience. The course is run as an intensive with 5 days of classes in December, in which students explore content and practice in dialogic rather than didactic ways. They then complete assessments through until February, including running a Kitchen Table dialogue. The course has had about 20 enrol each year, and has had great feedback from the students. Link to DA page
(http://www.doublearrowconsulting.com.au/recent-work/science-dialogue/)
This one-day workshop was commissioned by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology to train early-career researchers in communication and engagement. Wendy designed and facilitated the workshop, with assistance from Matthew Kearnes and Declan Kuch, members of the centre from UNSW. The workshop was held at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, and was attended by about 25 PhD students and postdocs.
In 2017, the ACT Government (through the Chief Ministers, Treasury and
Economic Development Directorate), commissioned Double Arrow, in
partnership with Dr Simon Niemeyer and Prof John Dryzek, from the University of Canberra, and Vicky Darling, to develop advice about engagement reform in the Territory. The advice was to assist in developing a whole-of-government communication and engagement strategy, informed by deliberative democracy. The project involved a thorough review of current engagement practice within the organisation and a co-design process with engagement and policy staff.
Dr Wendy Russell led the project and worked with Vicky on the diagnosis and
co-design, and with Simon and John on bringing a deliberative democracy model and lens to the development of the strategy. An advice paper was presented to the Government in September, 2017, and a Whole-of-government Communications and Engagement Strategy was released by the Directorate later that year, drawing on the advice paper. The advice paper has not yet been made public, and the strategy document lacked context about deliberative democracy. However, ongoing communication with the engagement team has indicated that much of the advice is being acted on internally, and is helping to drive a significant reform process across Government. As part of this reform process, Wendy and Simon have been involved in a community of interest: DeliberateACT, which is an interesting mix of government, researchers, practitioners and citizens with an interest in deliberative democracy.
This project was an exciting and rewarding opportunity to work with fantastic
partners on an important and influential task. Vicky’s prior work at various
levels of government, from public service to ministerial advice to a ministerial
portfolio (Environment in Qld), meant that she had knowledge and experience
that was incredibly relevant to understanding context and needs. Combining this deep understanding of government, and my own theoretical and practical
understanding of engagement and deliberative democracy, with Simon and
John’s world-leading expertise on the theoretical and empirical dimensions of
deliberative democracy allowed us to develop a plan that could make the ACT a world leader in deliberative engagement.
The Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre approached Double Arrow to conduct an evaluation of three projects under their social research program. These included a project that developed an engagement framework for plant biosecurity, a project developing decision support tools, and a project that produced a novel indigenous engagement model for Australia and New Zealand. Wendy worked with Nicki Mazur, ENVision, to analyse and evidence the actual and potential benefits of this social research to plant biosecurity in Australia.
The evaluation report (link: http://www.pbcrc.com.au/publications/pbcrc2234/ )has been published on the PBCRC website.
Wendy subsequently participated in an advisory network for the indigenous
engagement project.
Wendy was lead organiser on a workshop to bring researchers and practitioners of democratic innovation together. The workshop, entitled Beyond the Vote: Democratic Innovation in Australia, was held at the Open State conference in Adelaide in October, 2016. Wendy worked with Chad Foulkes, Lucy Parry, Emerson Sanchez, Nicole Hunter and Emily Jenke to organise the workshop, with support from Open State (through SA Department of Premier and Cabinet). The workshop began with a showcase (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B57U33DqAys)
and continued with intensive exploration of the prospects and challenges for
democratic innovation, particularly deliberative democracy approaches, in
Australia. (link: http://www.doublearrowconsulting.com.au/beyond-the-vote/)
The outcome was a new network, called Deliberators without Borders.
The Beyond the Vote workshop followed on from the Crossing the Divide
workshop held in March 2015 at the University of Canberra (see below – link)
Double Arrow was commissioned by an Advanced Biotechnology group at QUT
headed by Prof Roger Hellens, to develop a communication strategy through a
participatory workshop. Wendy designed and facilitated the workshop, which
involved senior researchers, postdocs, students and external researchers. The
group went on to develop their communication strategy, and conducted a series
of vox pops, discussing with local people their aspirations and concerns about
gene editing.
The Centre for Biodiversity Analysis (CBA) sought assistance from Double Arrow to run their annual conference as a Research-Policy workshop. The aim of the two-day workshop was to understand the research-policy ‘gap’ relating to the use of evolutionary biology in policy (particularly conservation policy), and to seek to bridge the gap through two-way engagement between researchers and policymakers. The workshop drew a group of about 60 researchers, policy makers and managers (eg rangers, involved in policy implementation). Wendy designed the workshop, in collaboration with Dr Claire Stephens and Prof Craig Moritz, from CBA, and facilitated on the day. She also wrote the workshop report (link: http://cba.anu.edu.au/files/CBA policy workshop report.pdf).
Wendy received funding from the newDemocracy Foundation, through an
international call for research projects in 2015 (the project was among four
selected). The research was conducted in 2016, involving 3 case studies and over 40 interviews with participants, organisers and observers of citizen deliberation processes in Australia. The project drew on advice from Prof John Dryzek, University of Canberra, and Gail Fairlamb, SA Department of Premier and Cabinet. The research report (link: https://www.newdemocracy.com.au/research/research-papers/397-the-macro-impacts-of-citizen-deliberation-processes) was completed and published on the nDF website in early 2017. Two journal articles from the research are in preparation.
PRISM Policy Translation Workshop, 2015 Jacinta Cubis called on Wendy to assist in co-facilitating a research-policy workshop on data communication for policy in relation to infectious diseases in Canberra.
Wendy worked with members of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, with support from the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, to hold the first research-practice workshop to explore deliberative democracy in Australia. The workshop explored recent theoretical and practical developments in the field, considered a range of current questions and challenges, and developed strategies to develop the practice and further the field in this country.
A report from the workshop is available (link:
http://www.governanceinstitute.edu.au/magma/media/upload/ckeditor/files/DD_workshop_crossing%20the%20divide_2015.pdf)
A LinkedIn group called Deliberative Democracy Workshop was set up to
continue the discussion.
Wendy worked with Nicki Mazur, ENVision, to design and deliver a one-day
Community Engagement workshop to the North Central CMA in Bendigo.
Wendy worked with Janet Salisbury from Biotext Pty Ltd to draft a strategy and
run an interactive workshop with the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
(OGTR), the agency responsible for regulating genetically modified organisms in
Australia. The project considered communication and engagement efforts and
opportunities for the OGTR and made recommendations for future engagement
activities to build their relationships with stakeholders and the wider
community.
The strategy is an internal document, which will be considered by the new Gene
Technology Regulator, due to be appointed later in 2016.
In 2017, Wendy worked with an Advanced Biotechnology group at QUT to develop a communication and engagement strategy to reach out about their work. At a workshop at their beautiful campus in Brisbane, they considered how to shift from a one-way, ‘deficit’ approach to communication, to a two-way approach to dialogue and engagement that can inform their research.
Wendy worked with the Centre for Biodiversity Analysis in 2016 on a research-policy workshop to consider evolutionary biology research and its use in policy and management, particularly in relation to biodiversity conservation. The workshop was held at the Australian National University in Canberra in September. More information and the workshop report is available here
Wendy also assisted Jacinta Cubis in facilitating a research-policy workshop in October 2015 on data communication for policy in relation to infectious diseases.
Wendy received funding from the newDemocracy Foundation in 2015 to work on a research project entitled Decisiveness, impact and influence of deliberative democracy processes: is there a simple relationship?, drawing on nDF work in deliberative democracy around the country. The issue of impact is timely given the recent shift in political rhetoric around consultation and engagement. A research report was published in April 2017.
Teaching & Training
Wendy designed and delivered a course on Science Dialogue. Practice and Theory through the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and the Australian National University in January 2016. The course was run again in December, 2016 and will run again in December this year. Find more information here
Research-Practice workshops
Wendy was lead organiser on a workshop to bring researchers and practitioners of democratic innovation together. The workshop, entitled Beyond the Vote, was held at the Open State conference in Adelaide in October, 2016. Wendy was joined by Chad Foulkes, Lucy Parry, Emerson Sanchez, Nicole Hunter and Emily Jenke on the working group for Beyond the Vote. The outcome was a new network, called Deliberators without Borders.
The Beyond the Vote workshop follows on from a workshop held in March 2015 called Crossing the Divide: Deliberative Democracy Theory and Practice, which Wendy organised with the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, The workshop explored recent theoretical and practical developments in the field, considered a range of current questions and challenges, and developed strategies to develop the practice and further the field in this country.
A LinkedIn group called Deliberative Democracy Workshop has been set up to continue the discussion, and a report from the workshop is available here.
Social Research Evaluation for the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre
In 2017, Wendy worked with Nicki Mazur, ENVision Environmental Consulting, to evaluate several social research projects within the Plant Biosecurity CRC, focusing on assessing the impacts of the research, including potential impacts, in improving the plant biosecurity system.
North Central (Victoria) Catchment Management Authority Community Engagement Workshop
In 2014, Wendy worked with Nicki Mazur, ENVision, to design and deliver a one-day Community Engagement workshop to the North Central CMA in Bendigo.
Office of the Gene Technology Regulator Communication and Engagement Strategy
In 2014, Wendy worked with Janet Salisbury from Biotext Pty Ltd to draft a strategy and run an interactive workshop with the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR), the agency responsible for regulating genetically modified organisms in Australia. The project considered communication and engagement efforts and opportunities for the OGTR and made recommendations for future engagement activities to build their relationships with stakeholders and the wider community.
The strategy is an internal document which will be considered by the new Gene Technology Regulator, due to be appointed later in 2016.
A.W. Russell (In preparation) ‘Best we can’ practice in community engagement. To be submitted to the Journal of Public Deliberation.
N. Marks and A.W. Russell (2015) Public engagement in biosciences and biotechnologies: Reflections on the role of sociology and STS. Journal of Sociology 51 (1): 97-115
A.W.Russell (2013) Improving Legitimacy in Nanotechnology Policy Development through Stakeholder and Community Engagement: Forging New Pathways, Review of Policy Research, 30 (5):566-587
F. Vanclay, A.W. Russell and J. Kimber (2013) Enhancing innovation in agriculture at the policy level: The potential contribution of Technology Assessment. Land Use Policy 31: 406-411
A.W. Russell, F. Vanclay, J. Salisbury and H. Aslin (2011) Technology assessment in Australia: The case for a formal agency to improve advice to policymakers. Policy Sciences 44: 157-177
Synthetic Biology
2010 – 2013 Science & Technology Engagement Pathways
The STEP (Science & Technology Engagement Pathways) framework was developed under the National Enabling Technologies Strategy (NETS) within the (then) Department of Industry, Innovation, Science and Research (DIISR). Wendy managed the development and implementation of STEP while working for the Department from 2010–13.
STEP was developed through a multistakeholder engagement and co-design process and was released in early 2012. The framework was implemented with a ‘STEP into the Future’ series of engagements between Feb 2012 and May 2013.
STEP was designed for uptake by other departments and organisations and has been published under Creative Commons (www.innovation.gov.au/step). The multistakeholder process and STEP into the Future have both been recognised by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)
Link: www.iap2.org.au/awards/2011-core-values-awards
Link: www.iap2.org.au/awards/2013-core-values-awards
The STEP framework document is available to download here. A paper about the development of STEP is available to download here.
(reports are available at www.innovation.gov.au/step if not, please contact Double Arrow for copies)
2006–09 ARC project – TASC (Technology Assessment in Social Context)
Wendy worked on the TASC project with Prof Frank Vanclay (University of Tasmania, now at University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Dr Heather Aslin (Bureau of Rural Sciences, now Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)). The project involved a review of international technology assessment (TA) practice and institutionalisation, including a tour of TA agencies in Europe; the development of a framework for Australia – the TASC framework; and a case study, carried out be a PhD student, Julie Kimber, who has since graduated and is working for CSIRO. Papers from the project can be found here.
2005 Transdisciplinarity and Double Degrees
Wendy was granted funding from the University of Wollongong Educational Strategic Development Fund to investigate the development of transdisciplinary capacity through double degree programs. The research involved a literature review, a set of interviews, and a survey of double degree students on campus. The final report from the project, which was presented to the University Education Committee, is here . Papers from the project can be found here.
2004 Cotton Community Evaluation project
Wendy was awarded a Science and Innovation Award for Young People from the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2003. The project was a scoping study of the effects on a rural community in NSW of the use of genetically modified (GM) cotton. The research, based on the town of Wee Waa, involves a series of community-based focus groups with different stakeholder groups within the community. The final report from the research is here . A paper from the project can be found here.