Consensus conferences as ‘extended peer groups’

In the debate about lay involvement in science and technology policy-making it has been argued that, because of the uncertain and contested character of scientific advice used in policy contexts, we need new ‘extended peer groups’ These should be composed of citizens affected by decisions, who should be given an opportunity to criticise bodies of scientific knowledge. It is, however, unclear how the affected public should be defined, and how the groups should be organised. This paper examines how consensus conferences developed by the Danish Board of Technology can represent one way of organising extended peer groups. In consensus conferences, panels of 14–16 lay citizens question a group of experts on a controversial topic, answer a set of questions, and, by producing a consensus statement, provide policy-makers with advice on how various aspects of the topic should be handled. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.