I.09. The Democratic Turn in University STEM Education

A central democratic and innovation challenge, aligned with contemporary agendas in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and societal readiness, is preparing scientists to act as reflexive practitioners embedded in society, rather than isolated technical specialists. Developing such reflexivity requires early interventions: structured spaces where students and researchers critically examine how scientific knowledge becomes innovation and how research trajectories can mitigate, reproduce or amplify social and environmental challenges.

Democratic pedagogies offer powerful means of cultivating these capacities. Citizens’ assemblies, public-facing tribunals, controversy-driven learning, argumentation pedagogies, Science Shops, and community-based research create encounters where students and researchers deliberate, engage with diverse publics, and confront the civic and ethical dimensions of scientific work. These tools challenge deficit-model assumptions and help future researchers navigate the social complexity surrounding innovation systems.

This panel examines how such approaches are designed, delivered and evaluated, building on our experience implementing citizens’ assemblies and scientific tribunals in undergraduate and postgraduate science programmes, training established researchers, and drawing on a wider ecosystem of participatory pedagogies. Their influence extends beyond individual scientists, shaping research teams, programme cultures, institutional governance and wider science–society relations.

We invite contributions addressing four areas:

1. Pedagogical design: How can democratic pedagogies challenge deficit thinking, foster reflexivity and support informed, pluralistic dialogue?
2. Impact on students: What knowledge, competencies or dispositions do students develop, and how can these be assessed?
3. Impact on publics: What forms of value emerge for community participants?
4. Higher-order effects: How do these interventions reshape innovation cultures and the scientific enterprise?