Dortmans, Drs. K.

Talking genomics: experts and publics at DNA public dialogues and events

Background

Koen Dortmans studied physics and philosophy at the Radboud University in Nijmegen and the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2005 he graduated with a thesis with the title “Causality and quantum physics. Ernst Cassirers answer in the ´Crisis of causality´”. Since 2001 Koen has worked as free lance science writer and journalist as well as a organizer of public debates at LUX Nijmegen. He has organized debates on public health, science and genomics (commercial genetic testing, storage of embryo stem cells, biofuels, behavioral genetics).

Summary

Our aim in this project is to organize and study public debates and events as possible interactive dialogues in order to move and affect participants. Not only the usual suspects – the lay individuals who in the deficit model are the ones with a lack of understanding science – should be moved and affected by pubic debate. Dialogue is a collective process in that also and especially affects (or: touches, moves, influences) invited experts and organisers. Even when experts explicitly are invited to join a dialogue they tend to act and be approached primarily as information providers. Experts rather choose “the one-way normative notion of public understanding of science” (Wynne, 2007), which raises the question to what extent genomics experts are really aware of their role in public debate.

However, this is not just a question for experts. The considerations of the organizers of public debates – like the researcher in this project – often reinforces this techno-scientific framing. Organisers are the ones that invite experts as key note speakers, enable them to set the agenda (often a techno-science topic such as prenatal diagnostics) give them a stage (so they literally stand above the public), a microphone (so they can interrupt as they like) and thus enforce a particular power-relation between experts and publics through the set-up and organization. The researcher in this project not only studies dialogue, but also actively takes part in shaping it and act as interactive researcher.

Societally relevant issues related to genomics (e.g. the increasing tendency to diagnose mental illness or deviant behaviour on the basis of biological information) will present the starting point. Genomics researchers are stimulated to position themselves in the public discussion and to reflect on the question how such might affect their daily practice. Main question is: how can live public debates with genomics experts and citizens be organized and shaped as dialogue in order to allow issue articulation and collective setting of research agendas?

Peer-reveiwed, scholarly and professional publication

• Societal dialogue needs more than public engagement, Radstake, M., Heuvel van den-Vromans, E., Jeucken, N., Dortmans, K. & Nelis, A. Embo reports vol. 10, no. 4, 2009
• Meepraten, Dortmans, K., Radstake, M. & Nelis, A. De Helling, jaargang 21, nr. 4, 2008
• Technologie houd je niet tegen, Dortmans, K. De Helling, jaargang 21, nr. 4, 2008 “Mediating online DNA-Dialogues”, STI Studies vol. 5, nr. 1, 2009