Background
Increasing public trust in science and engineering
Research has consistently shown that scientific research and development undertaken by or affiliated to business has a lower trust rating than the research undertaken in universities, which is perceived to be independent. The conditions under which such research is conducted, and the way results are disseminated, are often at the heart of social concerns. The Science and Trust Expert Group will work with partners, including social scientists, to understand better this dimension of trust and explore whether new mechanisms are needed to redress this and increase public trust in all scientific endeavour. Working with the Science and the Media group, they will identify opportunities to work with scientists and the media to improve the balance of opinion in programming and reporting to convey the process of science, particularly peer review, risk and uncertainty, and reflect minority opinion more accurately.
The Expert Group will also work with business to explore the place that communication of ethical practice, research methods and funding has in Corporate Social Responsibility. The group will also work with the Science for All group to encourage both business and government to increase opportunities for public engagement in debate around the ethics of their work at the earliest possible stage.
Ethical Science
The ethical practice of science is a necessity if the results of science are to be trusted by and fully exploited by society. Every scientist, whether in business, academia or policy works within an ethical framework which provides a measure of confidence to society that the practice is fair, legal and transparent. Working with the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and the science community, the Expert Group will review the impact of the existing Universal Ethical Code for Scientists to determine whether it meets the needs of science and society and whether there are significant barriers to its adoption more widely. The group will also work with other groups to review the ethics training provided to scientists at all stages of their education and careers, and consider whether further action is required.
Science and Engineering in Policy Making
It is clear from the Public Attitudes to Science survey that society expects Government to use evidence-based policy making processes which acknowledge the value of debate. The Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and his counterparts across Whitehall are working to embed the use of scientific principles in policy making and encourage greater collaboration between the science and policy communities in the development of evidence-based policy.
The Science and Trust Expert Group will explore the current opportunities for scientific input to policy making and the existing collaboration between Government and scientists, particularly social scientists. It will identify new ways to embed partnership working, facilitating the movement of knowledge and people between the different sectors to make best use of the expertise available.
Impacts of Science and Society activity
The benefits and impacts of science and society activities are often hard to evaluate, given the long-term nature of behavioural change. However, in order for activities to be acknowledged as being effective in increasing the confidence society has in science, more work on quantifying the impact of existing and new initiatives needs to be done. Whilst evaluation will be a cross-cutting activity of all groups, the Science and Trust group will assess the effectiveness of existing evaluation methods for initiatives designed to foster trust in business and Government use of science and will feed into the wider work.
