Lessons learnt from EURAD programme which included interaction with civil society as part of the implementation and some findings for future.
Long abstract:
EURAD is EU co-founded five-years joint programme on radioactive waste management (RWM). It is based on jointly adopted strategic research agenda which direct the research and development (R&D) activities from responsible actors, namely waste management organisations (WMOs), technical safety organisations (TSOs) and research entities (Res). One of the EURAD foundations is also the involvement of different Civil Society (CS) participants which have specific concern on RWM safety, but they are not research partners. They are involved in the perspective of Aarhus Convention implementation by using double wing model with CS experts involved in the work itself and larger CS group providing feedback and suggestions. Such interactions aim at improving mutual understanding of how and to what extent R&D activities on RWM make sense and contribute improving decisions. Interaction with CS also contribute to developing ideas, propositions and methodologies on how to interact with Civil Society on scientific and technical results, how to deal with uncertainties, and how to interact with Civil Society in order to promote mutual benefit of available knowledge. The paper will present the experience from interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary involvement in EURAD from CS view and findings for future similar activities.