The clinical research encounter is a site of close interaction between research professionals
and members of the public, as they jointly perform research, but is not normally considered
as a potential site for public engagement. In this paper we adduce theoretical and empirical
arguments on the potential of this site for developing a novel mode of engaging publics with
science. Our empirical studies use qualitative methods, based primarily on interviews and
participant observation. We find that performing in a live experiment offers participants
material engagement with science through embodied experience, and generates commitment
to the research and to building close working relationships with researchers. Researchers
reciprocate, and acknowledge benefits from closer interactions with participants, though
remaining partly constrained by their professional acculturation. We argue that the potential
of clinical research as an engagement site lies in the combination of material engagement
and the conscious commitment by participants to making a contribution to a specific project.
Thus the clinical research encounter offers a useful alternative mode of engagement to the
language-based paradigm currently dominating work in this field
