Our work is oriented towards bringing together society, science, and policy, and innovation, at all levels — from local institutions to supranational governments. Find our methodological categories below, divided into three categories.
Science Communication and Dialogue with Society
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In an increasingly polarised world, building bridges between science and society is more important than ever. Therefore, the Athena Institute is committed to transforming traditional science communication into two-way, engaging dialogue that values citizens' perspectives. Through creative and interactive methods, we foster a deeper connection between scientists and publics, building trust, mutual understanding and new knowledge.
Inclusive Knowledge Production and Technology Development
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Inclusive Knowledge Production and Technology Development recognizes that innovation is not a linear path from lab to world, but a dynamic, iterative process shaped by diverse actors and contexts. At the Athena Institute, we develop methodologies that actively support this flow—connecting scientific research, design practices, and lived experiences. These methods foster mutual learning and co-creation across disciplines and life worlds, ensuring that knowledge and technologies are more responsive, inclusive, and socially robust. This section outlines several of the approaches we’ve created to facilitate such inclusive development processes.
Reflexive Evaluation and Policy Oriented Learning
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At the Athena Institute, we are continuously developing methodologies that aim to strengthen systemic transformation by embedding transformative learning into policy and practice. These approaches encourage critical reflection on actions and their (potential) outcomes in an effort to enable participants to navigate uncertainty, revise strategies, and co-create long term solutions that are inclusive, socially robust, and responsive to real-world dynamics.
Action-oriented and participatory
The foundation of these transdisciplinary methodologies lies in different theoretical groundings, such as Science, Technology & Society Studies, Systems Transformation & Reflexive Governance and Business & Innovation Management. However, they all are participatory and co-creative in nature, and share common premises, like reflexivity, inclusivity and joint learning.
Continuous tailoring to context
We always tailor our methods to the context of the challenges we address, including the spectrum of actors involved, and the goals we set out to achieve. We continue to evolve our methods iteratively throughout the process, ensuring adaptability and ongoing learning.
Co-creation throughout all phases
The Athena Institute includes actors throughout all phases of research and innovation processes. This way, we contribute to transformations that embrace the challenge of benefitting everyone involved. We deploy innovative methods at the entire spectrum of science-society interaction moments; from the stage of research agenda setting to the phase of societally sensitive upscaling.