Simon Wright

BIO

Simon Wright is a Partner of PEP – Public Engagement Projects – a Wellington-based consultancy that helps organisations listen to, and engage with, their stakeholders and publics for improved decisions, trust and relationships.

Listening is at the heart of dialogue and deliberation, which are neglected but necessary features of collective life. Better listening can be encouraged by creating contexts in which people and organisations recognise the rights and views of others, acknowledge the communication of others, pay attention to what others are saying, interpret what is said to gain understanding, give consideration to what is said and show this by giving an appropriate response.

Simon’s artefact is a transcript from an online deliberation on pre-birth testing. It shows that good listening can be achieved even in a public online forum about a sensitive issue.

After 13 years as a consulting engineer and 3 years as a policy expert on hazardous substances, Simon became a public engagement specialist while working in the Bioethics Council secretariat (2005-09) and at the Wellington City Council (2009-15). Simon served on the Board of the International Association for Public Participation Australasia (2009-11) and chaired its Practice Development Committee (2009-12). He co-developed and co-teaches EGOV503: Managing ICT-enabled forms of public engagement (2015 – present).

ARTEFACT: Extract from online deliberation groups (2007-08), below