APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations]
Pursuing a just, equitable, and desirable sustainable transition requires stakeholders from a diverse set of backgrounds and varying viewpoints to actively engage in deliberations to co-design their future. Facilitating stakeholder engagement activities has so far relied on either qualitative framew...
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F1000 Research Ltd
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Open Research Europe |
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| Online Access: | https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-88/v3 |
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| author | Anastasios Soursos Konstantinos Koasidis Álvaro Labella Georgios Xexakis Alexandros Nikas Anastasios Karamaneas |
| author_facet | Anastasios Soursos Konstantinos Koasidis Álvaro Labella Georgios Xexakis Alexandros Nikas Anastasios Karamaneas |
| author_sort | Anastasios Soursos |
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| description | Pursuing a just, equitable, and desirable sustainable transition requires stakeholders from a diverse set of backgrounds and varying viewpoints to actively engage in deliberations to co-design their future. Facilitating stakeholder engagement activities has so far relied on either qualitative frameworks and processes or simplified quantitative approaches such as surveys, which render eliciting tangible and actionable outcomes challenging. Although group decision making and consensus reaching can leverage the capacity of multi-criteria decision aid to address this gap, tools implementing such processes remain scarce. Here, we present APOLLO-Live, a stakeholder engagement webtool that can be used live in workshops to facilitate deliberations in energy and climate policy. The tool relies on linguistic variables, which are easily comprehensible by the participants, and employs the 2-tuple TOPSIS group decision making method to prioritise needs faced by different communities, as well as solutions that can be implemented to advance the energy transition. It also fleshes out differences in the voting patterns of different groups of voters and calculates a consensus metric to shed light on conflicts arising. Through tips and suggestions provided within the tool and based on multiple rounds of voting, supplemented by live discussions during the workshop, the tool can improve consensus and synthesise multiple perspectives in the produced outcomes, assisting towards bridging the conflicts and producing solutions that are widely accepted. We highlight the functionalities of the webtool, including how it can be used to advance stakeholder dialogues, in two pilot use cases targeting the preferences of the youth in terms of (a) actions to advance climate action and (b) investments to be prioritised. Finally, although the development and use principles followed focused on the energy and climate policy domain, the tool can be used in any application where multi-criteria decision aid and group decision making can potentially be employed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e0e313f0b8574aa0af0055d8574909b8 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2732-5121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | F1000 Research Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Research Europe |
| spelling | doaj-art-e0e313f0b8574aa0af0055d8574909b82025-08-20T03:46:38ZengF1000 Research LtdOpen Research Europe2732-51212025-08-01510.12688/openreseurope.19614.322907APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations]Anastasios Soursos0Konstantinos Koasidis1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3656-4874Álvaro Labella2Georgios Xexakis3Alexandros Nikas4Anastasios Karamaneas5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9677-9543Forecasting & Strategy Unit, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou, Attica, 15780, GreeceEnergy Policy Unit, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou, Attica, 15780, GreeceDepartment of Computer Science, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Andalusia, 23071, SpainHOLISTIC P.C., Athens, 15343, GreeceEnergy Policy Unit, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou, Attica, 15780, GreeceEnergy Policy Unit, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou, Attica, 15780, GreecePursuing a just, equitable, and desirable sustainable transition requires stakeholders from a diverse set of backgrounds and varying viewpoints to actively engage in deliberations to co-design their future. Facilitating stakeholder engagement activities has so far relied on either qualitative frameworks and processes or simplified quantitative approaches such as surveys, which render eliciting tangible and actionable outcomes challenging. Although group decision making and consensus reaching can leverage the capacity of multi-criteria decision aid to address this gap, tools implementing such processes remain scarce. Here, we present APOLLO-Live, a stakeholder engagement webtool that can be used live in workshops to facilitate deliberations in energy and climate policy. The tool relies on linguistic variables, which are easily comprehensible by the participants, and employs the 2-tuple TOPSIS group decision making method to prioritise needs faced by different communities, as well as solutions that can be implemented to advance the energy transition. It also fleshes out differences in the voting patterns of different groups of voters and calculates a consensus metric to shed light on conflicts arising. Through tips and suggestions provided within the tool and based on multiple rounds of voting, supplemented by live discussions during the workshop, the tool can improve consensus and synthesise multiple perspectives in the produced outcomes, assisting towards bridging the conflicts and producing solutions that are widely accepted. We highlight the functionalities of the webtool, including how it can be used to advance stakeholder dialogues, in two pilot use cases targeting the preferences of the youth in terms of (a) actions to advance climate action and (b) investments to be prioritised. Finally, although the development and use principles followed focused on the energy and climate policy domain, the tool can be used in any application where multi-criteria decision aid and group decision making can potentially be employed.https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-88/v3Group decision making consensus reaching multi-criteria decision aid stakeholder engagement deliberation climate actioneng |
| spellingShingle | Anastasios Soursos Konstantinos Koasidis Álvaro Labella Georgios Xexakis Alexandros Nikas Anastasios Karamaneas APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations] Open Research Europe Group decision making consensus reaching multi-criteria decision aid stakeholder engagement deliberation climate action eng |
| title | APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations] |
| title_full | APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations] |
| title_fullStr | APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations] |
| title_full_unstemmed | APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations] |
| title_short | APOLLO-Live: A multi-criteria-based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations] |
| title_sort | apollo live a multi criteria based webtool for synchronous group decision making and consensus support in energy and climate policy deliberations version 3 peer review 1 approved 3 approved with reservations |
| topic | Group decision making consensus reaching multi-criteria decision aid stakeholder engagement deliberation climate action eng |
| url | https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-88/v3 |
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