CONSIDER Policy Brief
Eleanor Morgan
Dear Members,
The CONSIDER project has come a long way in our research and our case studies are providing a great insight into how Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are involved in research projects. As we draw closer to the final twelve months of the project, we would like to update you on our progress by sharing our policy brief with you.
We have been looking into the barriers surrounding CSO participation in research. One of the first problems that CONSIDER discovered was the lack of a universally accepted definition of civil society organisation. The European Commission does provide a definition, but with vague qualifications such as non-for-profit, non-State and non-partisan, this can often be left open to interpretation. For example, a university fits this definition – is it a CSO? Another key problem is the funding schemes which don’t always make CSO participation easy. When faced with this obstacle, some research projects then choose to avoid instead of involve CSOs.
While CONSIDER’s research is still ongoing, our initial findings suggest that clarity is a key issue for CSO participation in research. Not only is the definition of a CSO debatable but our research has shown that the role of a CSO in research projects is not always universally understood. For example, CSOs tend to see themselves as major players in the project whereas project coordinators give less importance to the role of a CSO. The same is true for the perceived outcomes of research projects where we have found CSOs to be much more pessimistic.
At the end of the day, publicly-funded research has to benefit the public that funds it. To improve the quality of research for everyone, we need to provide a voice for the public by engaging CSOs more effectively in research projects.
The complete policy brief is in attachment and is also available via our website: CONSIDER Policy Brief
It would be great to get your views on our work; in this way we can ensure that our final recommendations have a practical relevance for all stakeholders.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Best wishes,
Eleanor
Eleanor Morgan
Communications Officer
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