Research Axes
Spiral's Five Research Axes
« Risk and governance » axe under the supervision of Sébastien Brunet and Catherine Fallon
Research and expertise activities focus on social risk perception, public risk policies (GMOs, radioactive waste treatment, food chain safety, nanotechnologies), environmental risk management, emergency planning and crisis management, but also conflict management and resolution (siting conflicts: GSM antennas, landfill sites, wind turbines). This axe is also involved in the programming of an interuniversity certificate in emergency planning coordinated by Aline Thiry (http://www.planicom.be/) for the attention of professionals in emergency planning and emergency management crisis.
« Science, technology and society » axe under the supervision of Pierre Delvenne
This research group is developing expertise in the geo- and technopolitics of resources, distribution and management of technological innovation. The work of this axe focuses on the evaluation of technological choices (nanotechnologies, electronic identity card, biotechnologies, surveillance), modern science and innovation regimes in Europe and Latin America, food issues (functional food, food) and the role of science, technology and innovation for development (intellectual property, international regulation, technology transfer, social technologies).
« Ecology and societies » axe under the supervision of Francois Thoreau and Kim Hendrickx
We live in a time of unprecedented events with worldwide pandemics, loss of multiple species, climate adverse events, and of equally unprecedented impacts on living bodies and environments. This axis of research follows current life sciences developments, giving it an interdisciplinary and critical spin. Hence “ecologies and societies” is committed to explore a series of unknowns: about who or what a particular society is made of, as well as about how societies relate to one another and how to qualify such relationships. Following the wave of Environmental and Medical Humanities, the “ecologies and societies” axis of research focuses on situated empirical fieldworks that tie together complex assemblies of entities, such as human beings, cattle, institutions, soils, chemical substances, regulation, industrial heritage, laboratory animals, genomics databases. The main aim will be to learn how to account for such complex realities, foster imagination and figure out narratives that respond to contemporary ecological disasters and challenges.
« Administration and public policies » axe under the supervision of Céline Parotte and Catherine Fallon
This multidisciplinary axe strives to develop in-depth expertise, both empirical and theoretical, in the analysis and evaluation of public policies. Currently, the main research topics are: comparative analysis of public action; integrated models for the evaluation of public policies; the transformation of public administration in the Walloon Region and questions relating to the positioning of the public administration in the face of emerging risks and technological innovations. The approach is resolutely interdisciplinary, best associating approaches specific to administrative science with the models used for the analysis and evaluation of policies. The axe is also involved in the programming of an interuniversity certificate in public policy evaluation, at the attention of public action professionals.
« Methodological developments » axe under the supervision of Céline Parotte
The research developed by Spiral is part of a transversal methodological reflection on participation and its tools. Whether they are focused groups, Delphi methods, scenario workshops, citizen juries or even consensus conferences, the tools and methods that bring together decision-makers, experts and ordinary people require the implementation of specific techniques, always readapted to the situation and the problematic investigated. It is within this framework that the "methodology" axe is developing a project for modeling participatory tools assisted by computer - particularly, the Mesydel software, which automates and facilitates (by reducing costs and increasing the participation rate) setting up a survey using the Delphi technique.
