Building an evidence base for stakeholder engagement The private sector provides lessons and models

A magazine article offering an overview of engagement. The author has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Identifies the myriad of terms used to talk about engagement and the lack of theory as to its purpose and performance as amongst the reasons for the lack of reliable evidence on why and how to do CSE. Compares CSE to a number of areas where the private sector has benefited from various forms of customer feedback in developing new products and improving services and suggests that CSE can play a similar role for scientific research, as long as researchers and funders learn how to respond and adapt as appropriate.