Lessons Learned for Structured Democratic Dialogue Methodology

• Provide the high-tier governance from governmental bodies for local initiatives to have the biggest impact;
• Push for Sustainable Tourism policies to improve coastal and marine ecosystems, minimise pollution and create economic growth by combining efforts at national, regional and local levels and creating green funding schemes and incentives;
• Improve governance by defining a shared and common vision by involving citizens and business networks for clean and green industries to attract tourists and investments;
• Enhance coastal and maritime tourism by adapting to demographic changes, while maintaining the original vocation and atmosphere of the coastal cities;
• Moderate the workshop with an experienced facilitator to avoid "Groupthink" and the "Erroneous Priorities Effect";
• Establish cooperation among diverse stakeholders (researchers, innovative businesses, politicians and citizens) even when it's challenging;
• Mobilise stakeholders early in the process to develop viable and sustainable business models;
• Make urban planning and tourism development collaborative and democratic by involving citizens and business in envisioning urban futures and resolve negative environmental impacts;
• Educate planners, civil society leaders, business industry to be more collaborative, responsible and exert place-based leadership;
• The SDD dialogue is a rigorous and efficient participatory methodology, but also time-consuming, leaving no time for the interpretation of the presented ideas in terms of their RRI dimensions by the participants during the workshop;
• Engage the public, involve governance bodies at various levels to generated ideas with ethical components, are sustainable, inclusive and of social justice;
• Joined stakeholder involvement produces ideas with integrated and holistic focus requiring synergy and collaboration;
• Develop efficient monitoring systems and assess the environmental impacts of best/worst policy practice;
• Develop real-time information systems, training activities and incentives to share knowledge and information for avoiding tendencies of local governments and businesses to downplay negative consequences;
• Organise carefully the workshop phases for successfully meeting the objectives and for engaging all participants;
• Define a clear plan for the future engagement of the workshop's participants to keep the community active;
• Define a workshop triggering question that is short, clear and easily understood by all stakeholders;
• Ask participants to state their workshop expectations because experience shows that some find the workshop and its partcipatory method intriguing, others were interested In how to develop a shared vision, some had an interest in being inspired and build networks;
• Focus not only on high-level ideas, but also on required research and innovation actions needed to execute them;
• Explain the workshop topic in an inclusive, strategic and broad manner for involving all types of participants;
• Focus on RRI issues by prompting participants to talk more about how researchers can be enrolled in all actions generated and how other stakeholders can be useful to researchers;
• Develop a common vision and an action plan with a more narrow focus combining development milestones and follow-up workshops;
• Follow-up with all participants with the results regularly and engage them in post-workshop knowledge sharing and networking through an online platform;
• Communicate broadly and raise wide awareness about the specific initiative to anchor change;
• Organise follow-up workshops by involving more decision makers to anchor change;
• Consider personal e-mails as the recruitment mechanism because it has been proven by far the most effective recruitment mechanism;
• Collect participant's post-workshop feedback focusing on the added value workshop points: the participatory method, the topic, the action plan, the common vision, the future participation options;
• Define SMART common vision and actions towards a specific goal and project;
• Make sure that funding will be secured for action plan execution and workshop follow up actions;
• Identify and invite the right number of participants representing all necessary science fields to create a viable action plan. Participant recruiting is time-consuming and must be planned well in advance of the workshop;
• Start measuring and collecting marine scientific data on board different non-scientific vessels;
• Engage government and law makers in order to make sustainable change in ports and ship;
• Start specific economic changes (investment, taxation) to support the goal of efficient and sustainable ports and ships;
• National and international organizations must balance economic profit and a competitive market with the goal of preserving the natural environment of our seas cannot;
• Make ports hubs of sustainability;
• Increasing use of LNG fuel for ships;
• Involve a multitude of stakeholders and implement actions as widely as possible, even globally, in order for adopted policies and solutions to be as relevant as possible, resulting in more support to implement the changes by all sides;
• Request the participants to state their “ideas” in the form of action statements in order to “push” them to think in practical terms;
• Be flexible with the methodology adopted in order to finalize the process, even if not in the way you planned;
• Choose your methodology considering your audience;
• Dedicate the needed time to discuss and clarify the methodology and the agenda with the facilitator - and among the organizing group;
• Increase knowledge on deep sea minerals occurrences and their economic;
• Analyze the impact of plumes and waste produced by Deep Sea Mining exploitation;
• Try to develop a stronger engagement between schools and the local authorities for the maintenance of basic infrastructure;
• Make environmental impact assessment mandatory for Deep Sea Mining within the EU;
• Support local and international decision-makers in charge of evaluating if, when, how, by who and for what should Deep Sea Mining ever take place;
• Oblige companies by contract to use 10% of their investment in an investigation in engineering design for mitigation of Deep Sea Mining during all the operation;
• Work together (science, law, economics, policy) to give advice on seabed mining issues;
• Create an open access platform with all Deep Sea Mining data available including biological and geological information;
• Distinguish between occurrences and resources, in order to know what exists and its potential economic value;
• Educate children on the importance of biodiversity and how to think about the environment responsibly;
• Implement RRI in real situations, with many participants proposing many actions, are not suitable with a one-day SDDP;
• Choose a suitable method for the number of participants and the specific of the workshop;
• Promote public engagement actions to raise awareness to the urgency of deep sea mapping;
• Increase awareness in the use of raw materials and their importance on our society;
• Bring researchers from ‘non-conventional’ areas related to Deep Sea Mining;
• Create an organized knowledge synthesis on Deep Sea Mining;
• Adopt participative methods tested in MARINA in other initiatives including stakeholders;
• Invite additional stakeholders and communities to join the MARINA knowledge sharing platform and direct them to the results and materials related to Deep Sea Mining;
• Identify what are the society perceptions and knowledge gaps to be considered in future planning of Deep Sea Mining research and innovation initiatives;
• Implement innovative and responsive policies to face climate change effects and assure a balanced competitiveness, growth and sustainability of the maritime tourism sites;
• Create innovative tools to guide the consumers, thus inducing public and private stakeholders (including NGOs) to invest in more sustainable directions;
• Put in place a policy-oriented, holistic and integrated approach to tackle complex marine issues;
• Increase awareness in the youngest about the (local) marine issues to create a new generation of people that are aware of the problems and want to engage themselves, to take action also through a political career;
• Empower citizens beyond data collection, in decision making and governance;
• Promote scientific knowledge and professional growth which have a fundamental role in supporting innovative sectors;
• Put in place an effective communication about greenwashing, so to improve the critical sense of the public against "fake" green activities;
• Participants do not subscribe gladly to the platform, they don't have time and/or willingness to learn using another tool;
• Give tight bounds to participants about the shape of the contributions they have to provide, so they won't have other option than provide what is needed;
• Ensure that the process of co-generating an action plan is concluded during the workshop;
• Investe in communication campaign from professionals, work with marketing societies to translate the scientific results into clear messages that can reach in particular young people;
• Translate the WS results in something short and friendly in short time and disseminate among the participants and others, not to loose momentum;
• During the recruitment phase, ensure the methodology har been clearly explained and understood, to avoid misunderstanding during the event;
• No actions tackled Gender Equality directly;
• While interpreting the results consider the location of the workshop: statistically most of the participants will come from the area where the workshop is held;
• One day is not enough for SDD;
• Ensure you have some big institutions newsletter to disseminate your workshop for recruitment and spread of the results;
• Stream only the most crucial sections of the workshop, disseminate the streaming agenda;
• Use the media to bring awareness to the society about the results from research and innovation;
• Multidisciplinary research considering the sustainability vector is key;
• Create higher awareness on technological achievements from challenging and cutting edge successful projects to attract skilled people to work in the sector;
• Use both phone and email for citizen recruitment;
• Achieve success through multi-stakeholder engagement and consensus;
• Establish transparent, efficient and effective democratic mechanisms amongst all involved and throughout all the phases to create trust;
• Explain RRI and innovation tools and how to embed them in policy agendas as participants find it useful;
• Keep the workshop's duration short and engage an experienced facilitator;
• Create a friendly and relaxed workshop atmosphere for participants to have lively and open discussions;
• Involve politicians and municipality representatives in workshops to increase its effectiveness;
• Awareness and education are fundamental in changing mindsets;
• Run awareness campaigns so that the issue problem is clearly understood by all stakeholders;
• To measure the workshop's success, define clear and achievable objectives;
• Use diverse communication channels (e-mail, telephone, face-to-face and word of mouth) for recruiting participants;
• Email and telephone were the best communication channels for promoting the workshop;
• Be aware of the motivational factor that workshop participants may feel because they like the fact that an interdisciplinary group representing all society's niches is invited to brainstorming for resolving the problem;
• The SDD method was evaluated as very well structured, inclusive, productive, scientific, interesting and dynamic;
• Disseminate research and innovation outcomes that have societal relevance for ethical acceptability;
• Promote governance arrangements and practices to favour sustainable tourism and seafood consumption;
• Succeed with public engagement through science education and open access in policy;
• Involving customers ranked the most favourable cluster with specific actions including the adoption of the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) business model;
• Educate the public at large in their individual role in marine conservation and sustainability (Public Engagement, Science Education);
• Educate all stakeholders about sustainable tourism sustainability to achieve socially and environmentally acceptable goods and services;
• Changing customer demand requires attractive and sustainable products that provide unique and customised experiences;
• Reliable scientific information is not easily accessible for tourist and stakeholders of the tourism industry;
• Open access, i.e. giving free online access to the results of publicly-funded research data will boost innovation and increase the use of scientific results by all societal actors;
• The absence of gender equality reveals a critical gap in access to opportunities and resources and decision-making power for women and men;
• Create a seafood producers organisation in France to reduce the gap between the producers and consumers;
• Suggested actions were mainly focused on Science Education in sustainable development and marine resources management as a critical part of local culture and coastal tourism;
• The education of young people and the use of exchange programs between schools will lead to active citizenship respectful of the environment;
• Plan well the workshop so that participants provide their ideas in an active way;
• Allocate a good part of the workshop for creating a clear common action plan;
• Plan well the participant groups so that all stakeholders are sufficiently represented;
• Action and follow-up the co-defined action plan;
• Promote the workshop through websites and a poster campaigns;
• Explain at the start of the workshop the different phases that participants will go through;
• Focus on making a good enforcement of already existing legislation mechanism rather than reinventing one from scratches;
• Make the high seas more visible to all stakeholders, the benefits for all and the issues at stake;
• Share data for a better cooperation and public engagement on the high seas;
• Empower European citizens, business representatives, researchers and policy makers to take informed decisions on the high seas through science education;
• provide a quality framework in which all stakeholders can work toward a solution thanks to a good governance;
• Focus the workshop on a topic relevant for the participants and related to their daily lives;
• Hook RRI abstract subjects to a topic related to participants lives and interests;
• Look for participants open to dialogue, but who don't usually interact with each other;
• Use the SMART action format to ease the follow up of the workshop;
• Be careful of possible competition of other events happening as the same time in the same city or on the same topic;
• Science & Education and Open Access have a vital role in achieving success in the development of sustainable tourism ventures within Marine Protected Areas;
• Avoid conflict through policies for ensuring that any supports are widely known, widely available and not exclusive;
• Bring people and particularly the young on location where they can have transformative experiences that they will seek to relieve throughout their lives;
• Engage young potential "citizen scientists" in schools to promote the issue at hand;
• The SDD method allows for integrating contributions from individuals with diverse views, backgrounds and perspectives through a process that is structured, inclusive and collaborative;
• Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) can help to overcome the current marine and societal challenges and unlock the potential for Blue Growth;
• There is a strong need for redefining and refocusing the business model of tourism;
• Each initiative on sustainable tourism products requires the right expertise (knowledge and skills) and institutional participatory processes that will support stakeholders' succesfull involvement;
• All relevant stakeholders need to be involved in the process of developing sustainable tourism ventures within MPAs ). (this relates to strategic goal 12);
• The ultimate aim should be to develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts and to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products;
• Avoiding "Groupthink" and the "Erroneous Priorities Effect": taking measures for the protection of the authenticity of all ideas;
• Defining the Workshop's Triggering Question: What actions are needed from a policy, social / cultural, economic, technological perspective to develop the subject?;
• Achieve positive engagement with all types of local stakeholders including relevant government agencies, local businesses; regulators; NGOs, CSOs, researchers and citizens;
• Use of technology as an instrument to both monitor the regulations and to disseminate data in near real-time;
• Consider the impacts of any activity beforeconsenting which may require the deployments of monitoring technologies to facilitate monitoring and impact assessment;
• Build capacity through education by developing local and national programmes for secondary schools and outreach programmes through citizen projects utilising real-time data from monitoring equipment;
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: a) simple, short title; one line describing the idea and one-two lines (minimum) explaining and clarifying the idea;
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: b) think who would be responsible for implementing the proposed action and how to engage the person or organisation;
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: c) timing (when could such an idea be implemented);
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: d) resources (how would the idea be implemented);
• Clarify from the start of any process or workshop all terms and acronyms so that all participants from various backgrounds understand them;
• Coordinate all activities related to policy, planning and regulation in the best possible way to reduce conflict and help meet environmental, economic and social objectives;
• Perform an analysis of publics' behaviours before engaging the public engagement;
• Use audience targeted communication for all types stakeholders that is engaging;
• Explan clearly the workshop methodology and how the outputs will be used at the beginning of the workshop and include some warm-up activity;
• Try to engage volunteer groups/stakeholders who use the sea on a regular basis;
• Initiate open access through public offices also to non-governmental stakeholders;
• Push for governance and ethics to be required in business registration requirements for creating awareness on sustainability;
• Use citizen observatories through mobile phones to report pollution sites and inappropriate environmental behaviour;
• Raise citizen and business awareness about the environmental protection and sustainability;
• Educate citizens about the value of the sea in their daily lives is necessary to raise ocean awareness and literacy;
• Initiate target awareness campaigns towards all stakeholders through a specific media campaigns;
• A structured participatory method like SDD helps participants converge their opinions towards a common vision and a common action plan;
• Advocate on the necessity of creating specific funding schemes to support the development of the targeted sector based on RRI principles;
• Provide Open Access to data for a proactive response to societal challenges;
• Develop information exchange systems between government, industry and the universities;
• Increase environmental and science education to promote societal understanding and participation;
• Take measures to develop and further enchance the engagement and cooperation between different stakeholders;
• Create platforms where industry and academic leaders can disseminate accurate and influential information which can be accessible by the general public;
• Engage researchers with the industry for the development of appropriate technologies since there is a discrepancy between the academia and the industry needs;
• Motivate to receive ahead of the workshop and on time the participants' action ideas and to attract participants from all stakeholders’ groups;
• To develop a sector, develop a legal framework to promote and regulate the development of the specific sector;
• Be aware that policy-makers are not easy to attract to a workshop unless they know the organiser personally;
• Create funding mechanisms to promote RRI in research and innovation in the specific sector;
• Education is necessary for the marine biotechnology development thus the need for developing university educational programmes on marine biotechnology;
• Raise awareness among pupils and students about environmental protection through informational programs as well as promote the specific sector as a means of employability;
• Push for cooperation among academic institutions and the industry as it is crucial;
• The greater majority of actions relate to more than one RRI dimension; this shows that actions are multidisciplinary and involve multiple stakeholders;
• Create training programs targeting SMEs and investors by focusing on enablers and barriers;
• Start planning at least 4 months in advance the organisation of a workshop as it is very time consuming task;
• Carefully consider the workshop's duration as many participants think that a one day-long workshop is too long;
• Learn about participatory methods and how to use them;
• Help the participants with examples to understand how to embed RRI principles when discussing a sector and societal challenges.

See also...

Workshop Methodology