Work

Involving Citizens in Foresight – The Missing Link

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: While citizen engagement is widely acknowledged as crucial for building inclusive and future-ready public policies, it is still often overlooked in strategic foresight. Emerging literature highlights key challenges-such as limited diversity in participation, weak integration with other methods, and a lack of sustained impact-that hinder the full potential of applying citizen-driven foresight. This presentation explores how participatory approaches can help address these challenges through a case study estimating future health risks linked to aflatoxin contamination in maize in France. The study brings together citizens and stakeholders to uncover additional drivers influencing food safety under climate change. These insights feed into the co-creation of richer future scenarios, which combine qualitative inputs with predictive health and climate models. By grounding foresight in real-world concerns and lived experience, this work shows how citizen engagement can strengthen scenario relevance, broaden system perspectives, and support more equitable health planning.

Source: European Journal of Public Health

DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaf161.357

Authors: C De Matteu Monteiro, B Sousa, S Pires, A Vieira

Institution: Centro de Estudos de Gestão

Language: English

Topic: Risk Perception and Management

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Sustainable cities and communities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,181