Communicating through vulnerability: knowledge politics, inclusion and responsiveness in responsible research and innovation

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) has affirmed the value of 'inclusion' and 'responsiveness' as institutional virtues necessary to ensure that reflexivity towards the social priorities behind innovation processes is made possible. It is argued that this affirmation links RRI to knowledge politics in other domains (e.g. environmental justice and the politics of development). It is suggested that lessons regarding inclusion and responsiveness can be drawn from these domains, focusing on the ways in which marginalised perspectives on need and vulnerability, once articulated, can help reconstitute the public sphere in which social priorities are defined. Three case studies are used to explore how entanglements of needs, vulnerabilities, identity and agency are vital to understanding the impacts of innovation and change more generally. It is argued that social science methodologies sensitised to such entanglements are necessary to help constitute a space of inclusion and responsiveness characterised, not by assumptions about idealised rational forms of deliberation, but by styles of communication that recognise vulnerability.National Science Foundation [NSF] [951516]Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research [IAI] [CRN-3035, CRN-3106]FAPESP [2010/51849-8, 2012/02125-2, 2013/11592-6, 2013/01217-3]UK Economic and Social Research Council [RES-628-25-0028]Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Publ Hlth, Environm Hlth Dept, Sao Paulo, BrazilCardiff Univ, Sch Social Sci, Cardiff, S Glam, WalesUniv Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Sci & Technol Policy Dept, Inst Geosci, Campinas, SP, BrazilFed Univ Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ocean Sci, Sao Paulo, BrazilFed Univ Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ocean Sci, Sao Paulo, BrazilNSF: 951516IAI: CRN-3035IAI: CRN-3106FAPESP: 2010/51849-8FAPESP: 2012/02125-2UK Economic and Social Research Council: RES-628-25-0028FAPESP: 2013/11592-6FAPESP: 2013/01217-3Web of Scienc