Involvement as a means of acceptance? Framing the debate and epistemic cultures in tension in participatory research

In the environmental sciences, participatory research, conducted in partnership with socio-professional actors, can respond to a wide range of objectives. The foundations on which this research is based, and in particular the epistemological and political biases of the researchers, their partners, and funding bodies, determine the framework of the participatory spaces to which the stakeholders are then invited. Why should people participate, and who should participate? What knowledge should be mobilized and/or constructed? From a sociology of science perspective, this article takes a reflexive look at a participatory research project, focusing on its genesis and taking the researchers and partner actors leading the project as the objects of research and actors investigated. The analysis highlights the operations involved in (re)framing the terms of debate and participatory spaces. It also shows the value of introducing a reflexive process for researchers who intervene during the course of the action, in a process of co-engineering participation.