David Mathews is co-chair of EIPP.

He brings a variety of experiences to public participation. He is a work psychologist with a strong track record in job analysis, working with job holders and employers to develop models of competence that assist individual and organisation development. Through this he has become widely experienced in the engagement of communities of practitioners.

David is an experienced facilitator in team building, problem solving, reconciliation and learning, with an empowering, responsive style. Clients have included The Institute of Directors, Henley Management College, the European Commission, the National Health Service and Home Office in the UK, individual businesses, local government and church communities.

He believes that public participation is vital for the evolution of democracy, provided it has effective facilitation and systematic, reflective evaluation that allows us to learn how to do it better. Trust in participation can be fragile, and good facilitation and evaluation provide defences against careless participation processes. He also thinks that, in order to facilitate, we need to understand the perspective of – or the psychology of – the individual citizen who is participating. He has personal experience of the tensions between authority and the citizen through his work with his local chamber of commerce, local authority and police service in Bath in the west of England.

David edited EIPP’s publication Public Participation in Europe.