ABSTRACT
The writing of this book takes its empirical starting point in a specific initiative situated in the context of upstream public engagement: the Citizen Science for Sustainability (SuScit) project (Eames and Egmose 2011; Eames et al. 2009a; 2009b). The SuScit project was an initiative specifically seeking to provide local urban communities with a greater say in how priorities for environmental and sustainability research are defined, so as to ensure that future research more effectively addresses their needs. To do so the project methodologically aimed to develop new forms of collaboration between sustainability researchers, practitioners and local communities. Thus the project provides an example of upstream public engagement initiatives increasingly attached to setting research priorities and agendas for future research, and not least, for exploring the potentials and barriers in doing so. Methodologically, the project can be seen as hybrid between the approach of upstream public engagement and various inspirations gained from action research.
