Latest stakeholder update

In our last stakeholder update, we announced the launch of two pilot initiatives:

i) Public engagement activities working with partners who have an existing public remit – The Science Museum and The Association for Science and Discovery Centres - to assess the mechanisms for communicating with the general public and evaluating what types of partnerships and events could be most valuable in informing decision-making on UK science and technology policy.

ii) A joint initiative with the British Science Association and Dialogue by Design to capture the views of the public from events that are already being undertaken by a large range of stakeholders.  The objective was to investigate gathering the views of the public from existing public engagement activities, and how to interpret this information for informing those involved in the policy-making process.

The pilot projects have now been concluded and we’re delighted to announce that both were successful in many ways. They identified learning points for the future, stimulated debate and discussion and enabled the Sciencewise-ERC programme to directly interact with the general public on its largest scale to date. In-line with Government objectives, this work gives the public real opportunities to get involved in shaping future science and technology policy and has the potential to expand in the future.

For more information on the events that took place during February and March:
Overview page
http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/science-museum-collaboration

Science Museum
http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/science-museum

Science Oxford
http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/science-oxford

Life Science Centre
http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/life-science-centre

Glasgow Science Centre
http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/glasgow-science-centre


An evaluation report for the pilot projects will be released in June, detailing recommendations for policy makers and other stakeholders, a link to which will be included in the June issue of Dialogue Bulletin.

Some feedback from our partners:

James Bell, from the Science Museum said: "The pilot collaboration with Sciencewise-ERC has provided a promising first glimpse into the possibilities opened up through realising a key strength of the Science Museum as a productive place of engagement with issues of contemporary science. Given an outlet to perpetuate and gather value as a source of civic public participation, the sparks of deliberation and debate can be captured and connected with decision-making. It provides an opportunity not only for the fulfilment of the visitor but also the service of wider societal aims and we have been pleased to help shape how this can best be achieved through our different activities." 

Dr Penny Fidler, Chief Executive The Association for Science and Discovery Centres said:

“The UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres was delighted to partner with Sciencewise-ERC for this pilot project.  Every week, 385,000 people of all ages and backgrounds engage with science at one of our member science and discovery centres or science museums. This equates to 20 million people every year, choosing to explore, discuss and delve into science in a hands-on, intriguing and personal way. Most science centres have a variety of dialogue activities to get the public talking about the important issues surrounding science, hosted by staff trained in the art of facilitating science dialogue.

Together, this collaborative project explored if Sciencewise could use these diverse publically accessible events that are funded through other mechanisms, to capture what the public felt about a variety of science issues. The project was managed by Sciencewise and ASDC and involved three ASDC members; Glasgow Science Centre, Centre for Life in Newcastle and Science Oxford with their events ranging from ‘scientists on the sofa‘ to science drama and evening discussion events.”

Alice Taylor-Gee from the British Science Association said: “We at the British Science Association were very excited to partner Sciencewise-ERC in this experiment in public engagement. As part of the Science and Society team's mission to facilitate cutting-edge science communication, it was a fascinating experience sourcing and working with such a wide range of partner events around the country and the variety of publics involved. The next stage of the project will be particularly interesting as themes begin to emerge from the data to provide a real snapshot of public opinion. We look forward to seeing if the techniques will be able to be applied to the next controversial issue in science.“