The Sciencewise ERC has agreed to provide £60,000 funding to the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) for a project to assess the public perception of Industrial Biotechnology (IB). IB is the application of bioscience (including genetically modified organisms) for the processing and production of chemicals, materials and energy.
The aim of the project is to assess and understand the public perception and values around IB. The key objectives for the work are:
- 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;
- Provide a mechanism whereby a broader group of NGOs could be drawn into the IB-IGT process;
- To create greater awareness of IB amongst the public and an understanding of likely concerns and drivers for renewable chemicals;
- To help to build public confidence in the Government’s use, management and regulation of science and technology
- To draw out the wider relationship between IB and GM that could inform the Royal Society’s report on biological mechanisms for enhancing food crop production and work to take forward the Cabinet Office Study on the Future of Food and Food Policy.
The work will involve deliberative Citizens’ Groups to allow for intensive discussion over multiple consecutive days in a ‘hothouse’ environment.
Delivered by
Results
The project began in August and will run for 18 weeks, completing in December 2008.
