We have the pleasure to invite you to another research seminar. Tomasz Krawczyk is going to give a talk: "Meaningful inclusion? Influence of Research Institutions on Epistemic Injustice in Public Involvement”. The seminar will take place on the 18th of April at 5:30 p.m. in the room 25 on Grodzka Street and via MS Teams.

Abstract

Meaningful involvement of participants, patients and other members of the public in research requires not only physical, but also intellectual presence of those to be involved. Within such approach, the research activity becomes an encounter of people who share different worldviews, values and life experiences with the scientific paradigm of discipline in question. Therefore, public involvement challenges established practice of research conduct and calls for several adaptations. While there is much focus on the ethical involvement of various individuals and groups, as well as the design of inclusive research processes, there is a gap concerning the role and impact of research institutions. The issue of how public involvement influences and is influenced by research institutions is underdeveloped in theoretical and empirical literature. 

I will explore the role of research institutions in public involvement, focusing on epistemic aspects concerning the social contexts of knowledge and interactions between people and research institutions. I will argue that not only involved participants and individual researchers, but also research institutions should adapt to be good partners in public involvement. Such adaptations are crucial to mitigate the possibility of epistemic injustice – wrongs related to the capacities of people as knowers. I will discuss epistemic features of institutions which can facilitate or hamper public involvement. Basing on these conceptualisations and existing reviews of public involvement research I will outline possible directions of future analysis. Increasing focus on epistemic aspects of research institutions is necessary to provide successful outcomes of public involvement and, more fundamentally, to create conditions for meaningful encounters among people who share different worldviews. 

 

Link to the MS Teams meeting