Scientific third sector: civil society actor of research

We are witnessing a growing tendency to question the decisions taken by public authorities in the face of social challenges. Citizens, whether organized or not, are the main players. This breakdown is accentuated when it comes to health and/or environmental issues, but also in the context of regional planning. In most cases, these tensions arise in the face of techno-scientific innovations.

Today, we're witnessing the culmination of a reaction that goes back to the 1970s, echoing the emergence of health and "societal" controversies in the public sphere (mad cow disease, contaminated blood, GMOs, nuclear power, etc.). A fringe of civil society then mobilized and developed its own capacities for analysis, reflection and action to constitute a citizen's (counter)expertise in the face of official scientific expertise, which was accused of failing to shed adequate light on the issues and consequences of decisions, and thus of skewing societal choices. The mobilization of this citizen expertise is at the heart of a sector that has taken the name of "scientific third sector", to distinguish itself from public and private research.

This scientific third sector mobilizes, in a variety of ways, via a variety of channels and through a variety of players, the capacity to develop innovative research fields and themes, and solutions adapted to subjects that have received little or no attention from public – or private – scientific research, which can be described as "orphan" subjects.

At the heart of the issues involved in third sector scientific activities lies the need for recognition of the knowledge mobilized, often referred to as "hybrid", because it lies at the crossroads of disciplines and categories of actors. This recognition is closely linked to the public authorities' consideration of the ideas and actions proposed.

Without aiming to be exhaustive, our approach in the following lines is to provide historical, theoretical and practical elements that engineers can use to get involved in the as yet little-known field of the scientific third sector.