Governance of EU research policy: Charting forms of scientific democracy in the European Research Area

The nature of public participation in EU research governance is an under-explored area. Assumptions that governance arrangements enable direct participation of ‘the public’ are identified in the academic literature on science communication. This paper considers the extent to which such assumptions can be supported. It presents findings from a preliminary investigation into the discursive construction of the ‘scientific citizen’ in selected official texts of the EU in the context of the development of the European Research Area, focusing on new research infrastructures with the legal status of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium. Specific modes of participation are identified: as assessors of the accountability of decision-makers; as recipients and beneficiaries of scientists’ knowledge-based decisions; and as participants in the scientific process via open access arrangements. The participation of the ‘scientific citizen’ is constructed as linked but external to the decision-making processes.