This workshop sets out guidelines and a toolkit for practitioners looking to create an engagement strategy for energy projects involving vulnerable groups. It was organised on 19 September 2022 by experts from University of Manchester and Ecopower in the framework of the EU project POWER UP.
Speakers:
Ami Crowther & Saska Petrova, Department of Geography, University of Manchester
Fien Vandebeke, City of Eeklo
This workshop is based on a report by University of Manchester that presents the academic and grey literature perspectives on what engagement means, why engagement fails to occur, and barriers to the involvement of vulnerable groups in research. The experts then put forwards solutions and strategies, derived from academic and grey literature, as well as from research projects and organisations in the energy or social domain, with four key best practices:
• Building trusting relationships
• Building in equitable processes and procedures
• Ensuring diversity of membership
• Ensuring tangible benefits for participants.
