Due to the increasing flood risks in Thailand, the education sector has been called on to promote public engagement in flood risk management (FRM). Still, there is limited support in terms of how the sector, especially non-formal education, can achieve this task effectively. To address this gap of support, this thesis qualitatively explored the scenario of public engagement in FRM in Thailand from the perspectives of fifty-six Thai public visitors to a large science museum (eighteen children and thirty-eight adults) and ten FRM key actors in Thailand.
By accepting that laypeople have the potential and are important to act in both the private and public spheres to reduce their own and collective flood risks, the study provides empirical evidence that, through their lived experiences, the Thai public visitors possess several sorts of capital that are essential for improving FRM (i.e. flood experiences, a strong/moderate belief that severe flood will occur in the future, and knowledge of personal flood impacts). This affirms that the public is a potential contributor to dealing with flooding issues in Thai society. The study further revealed that the Thai public visitors’ engagement with FRM remained limited to taking no action or taking private actions to lessen personal or household flood risks. By analysing the empirical data through a holistic lens, the study underlines that the limited engagement was a result of several personal and situational constraints. Based on these constraints, the study suggests two significant roles that museums and other similar non-formal education organisations in Thailand can adopt to support the promotion of public engagement in FRM: (1) being a source of reliable and updated knowledge about flooding issues and FRM for the public to access, and (2) being a safe space for the public to exercise their participation in conversations, deliberations, and collective actions toward improving FRM. Possibilities and challenges in integrating these roles into science museum practices in Thailand are discussed.