Public Perception of Industrial Biotechnology
Sciencewise-ERC funded project 2008
Background
The Sciencewise ERC provided £60,000 funding to the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) for a project to assess the public perception of Industrial Biotechnology (IB). Find out more about the project background.
Aims and Objectives
- To assess and understand the public perception and values around IB.
- To enable BERR, together with other relevant departments such as Defra to make better-informed decisions on policy for the uptake of IB by the chemicals and chemical-using sectors that take into account public values.
- To test the water for a potentially larger cross-Government public communication exercise and public dialogue that would inform any refresh of the GM crop policy.
Delivered By
Department for Business Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills commissioned this project.
Opinion Leader
Opinion Leader is a research-based consultancy.
3KQ
3KQ works in the field of facilitation and stakeholder engagement. They provide facilitation, convening and engagement services.
Latest Status Update
This project is now complete.
Key Impacts
- The dialogue helped policy makers understand the values that underpinned the public views, and therefore provided insights to guide future work on IB.
- The results informed the IB-IGT action plan for the industry to 2021, and led to a specific recommendation for further public and stakeholder engagement in future.
- The dialogue helped policy makers understand the level of public knowledge on the subject, and therefore to better plan future education work.
Resources
Project Quotes
“People just didn’t come down just for the ten minute talk… There were people who stayed until the end, sat at the back and listened to the outcome. I thought 'Yes, they are definitely interested in what the public opinion is'.”Public participant
“It has influenced us internally here by seeing first hand what the public think the issues are and the misconception, misinformation, misunderstanding that is out there.”Policy maker