This article presents a number of contributions from an e-forum debate on issues of representation in citizen juries and similar participatory approaches in Deliberative and Inclusionary Processes which grew out of a citizen jury and scenario workshop in southern India.
Traditionally, the process of risk assessment is undertaken by experts who use a 'sound scientific' approach. Recently, the notion of public participation in assessing risk has grown in popularity as a result of diminishing public confidence in expert-based and quantitative approaches. However, the author argues that public participation remains more often to be seen as something tacked on to the 'real' matter of expert scientific assessment. This article outlines the difficulties and problems of expert risk science and the benefits of including a lay understanding of the issue.