Democratising Knowledge Through Deliberative Democracy

Parallel Session

This panel will explore deliberative democracy and how citizens’ assemblies can be used to debate and find consensus on difficult issues. Hear from The Francis Crick Institute and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) about their current and planned use of deliberative democracy, and learn how you could use this methodology within your own organisation.


Delegates will have a greater understanding of how deliberative democracy can be used to empower people to untangle and reach consensus on difficult issues, and explore how this approach could be used in their own organisation.

Lightning talks (10 minutes each) from:

  • Miriam Levin, Head of Community Action at DCMS, looking at what deliberative democracy is and how citizens’ assemblies can be used, including discussion of the Innovation in Democracy Programme which is trialling deliberative democracy to open up local government decision-making to residents.
  • Dr Axel Heitmueller, Managing Director if Imperial College Health Partners and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, talking about a deliberative democracy project on the use of personal health data in London.
  • Dr Robin Lovell-Badge, Head of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at The Francis Crick Institute will talk about his experience of using deliberative democracy at the Royal Society and other organisations.
  • Jane Hughes, Director of Communications at the Francis Crick Institute, who will talk about the Crick’s ambitions to open up thorny science and ethics questions to the wider public through citizens’ assemblies.


A short discussion and Q&A will follow these talks.


This session is being delivered by Knowledge Quarter partner The Francis Crick Institute

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