Data

General Issues
Science & Technology
Specific Topics
Information & Communications Technology
Regulatory Policy
Collections
Sciencewise
Location
United Kingdom
Scope of Influence
National
Components of this Case
Public Input on the 2014 Longitude Prize
TrustGuide Public Dialogue on Information and Communications Technologies
UK Stem Cell Dialogue
Citizens' Inquiry into the Forensic Use of DNA and the National DNA Database
UK Public Dialogue on Geoengineering
Sciencehorizons
Public Perceptions of Industrial Biotechnology
Openness in Animal Research Dialogue
Space Weather Dialogue
Planet Under Pressure “Youth Voice”
Water Quality and Sustainability Community Engagement Pilots
Public Consultation on Human-Animal Embryos for Research
Public Dialogue on the Babraham Institute's Future Strategy
Science Communication Working Lunches
Public Engagement on Shale Gas and Oil Developments
UK Public Dialogue on Synthetic Biology
UK Public Dialogue on Ways to Wellbeing
Reviewing Public Engagement on Science Policy (Science, Trust, and Public Engagement Strand 1)
Food Systems Challenges & Solutions Public Dialogue
UK Public Dialogue on Reducing Carbon Emissions
Health Research Authority Policy Framework Dialogue
Review of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Siting Process
Public Dialogue on Significant Water Management Issues in the UK
Energy 2050 Pathways: A Public Dialogue
Living with Environmental Change: A Citizen’s Advisory Forum
Citizen Forums on the UK's Big Energy Shift
Low Carbon Communities Challenge
Links
Official Sciencewise website
Ongoing
Yes
Time Limited or Repeated?
Repeated over time
Purpose/Goal
Make, influence, or challenge decisions of government and public bodies
Approach
Evaluation, oversight, & social auditing
Consultation
Research
Spectrum of Public Participation
Consult
General Types of Methods
Deliberative and dialogic process
Evaluation, oversight, and social auditing
General Types of Tools/Techniques
Facilitate dialogue, discussion, and/or deliberation
Legality
Yes
Communication of Insights & Outcomes
Public Report
Type of Organizer/Manager
National Government
Type of Funder
National Government
Staff
No
Volunteers
No
Types of Change
Changes in civic capacities
Formal Evaluation
Yes

CASE

Sciencewise

May 7, 2020 Patrick L Scully, Participedia Team
February 18, 2020 Jaskiran Gakhal, Participedia Team
June 6, 2019 dominic
June 5, 2019 dominic
March 28, 2019 Scott Fletcher Bowlsby
March 27, 2019 MartinKing
General Issues
Science & Technology
Specific Topics
Information & Communications Technology
Regulatory Policy
Collections
Sciencewise
Location
United Kingdom
Scope of Influence
National
Components of this Case
Public Input on the 2014 Longitude Prize
TrustGuide Public Dialogue on Information and Communications Technologies
UK Stem Cell Dialogue
Citizens' Inquiry into the Forensic Use of DNA and the National DNA Database
UK Public Dialogue on Geoengineering
Sciencehorizons
Public Perceptions of Industrial Biotechnology
Openness in Animal Research Dialogue
Space Weather Dialogue
Planet Under Pressure “Youth Voice”
Water Quality and Sustainability Community Engagement Pilots
Public Consultation on Human-Animal Embryos for Research
Public Dialogue on the Babraham Institute's Future Strategy
Science Communication Working Lunches
Public Engagement on Shale Gas and Oil Developments
UK Public Dialogue on Synthetic Biology
UK Public Dialogue on Ways to Wellbeing
Reviewing Public Engagement on Science Policy (Science, Trust, and Public Engagement Strand 1)
Food Systems Challenges & Solutions Public Dialogue
UK Public Dialogue on Reducing Carbon Emissions
Health Research Authority Policy Framework Dialogue
Review of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Siting Process
Public Dialogue on Significant Water Management Issues in the UK
Energy 2050 Pathways: A Public Dialogue
Living with Environmental Change: A Citizen’s Advisory Forum
Citizen Forums on the UK's Big Energy Shift
Low Carbon Communities Challenge
Links
Official Sciencewise website
Ongoing
Yes
Time Limited or Repeated?
Repeated over time
Purpose/Goal
Make, influence, or challenge decisions of government and public bodies
Approach
Evaluation, oversight, & social auditing
Consultation
Research
Spectrum of Public Participation
Consult
General Types of Methods
Deliberative and dialogic process
Evaluation, oversight, and social auditing
General Types of Tools/Techniques
Facilitate dialogue, discussion, and/or deliberation
Legality
Yes
Communication of Insights & Outcomes
Public Report
Type of Organizer/Manager
National Government
Type of Funder
National Government
Staff
No
Volunteers
No
Types of Change
Changes in civic capacities
Formal Evaluation
Yes

Sciencewise is the UK government's internationally recognised public engagement programme which enables policy makers to develop socially informed policy with a particular emphasis on science and technology. It is led and funded by UK Research and Innovation.

Problems and Purpose

Sciencewise is led and funded by UK Research and Innovation, with support provided the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) within the UK Government. It helps the government engage with the public on policy issues involving science and technology, providing co-funding, guidance, advice, training and mentoring on projects to bring in the public voice and help policy makers carry out public dialogues. 

The main aims and objectives, according to the Sciencewise website, are to help those that are involved in policy so that:

  • Policy is more socially informed, making it more robust and credible with less chance of negative social impacts.
  • Policy is more publicly acceptable because it is developed with an understanding of how and why the public is likely to react, where they will draw the line, where are the issues of conflict and consensus, and what the public suggest will and will not work in practice.
  • Policy is more cost effective in the long term, because the likelihood of future unforeseen conflict is reduced and final decisions are easier to implement as they are based on the best possible knowledge from a range of sources.

Sciencewise has established a wealth of evidence on the value of public dialogue in policy involving science and technology. Its aim is to ensure that this expertise is available across Government and its agencies ensuring best practice in the commissioning and implementation of dialogue.

Background History and Context

Sciencewise evolved from an original Sciencewise Programme, which was set up in response to the House of Lords' (a chamber of the UK's parliament) 2000 Science and Technology Committee report ‘Science and Society’. The report highlighted the importance of public input into challenging areas of new and emerging science and called for much more meaningful engagement between scientists, policy makers and the public.

The ten-year Science and Innovation Investment Framework, published in 2004, subsequently recommended a more systematic approach to public dialogue to address the impact on citizens of rapid scientific developments. In 2004, the Sciencewise Programme was set up to fund public dialogue projects that facilitated ‘upstream engagement’ i.e. finding out people’s attitudes and aspirations before major policy decisions are made.

In 2005, the Government’s Council for Science and Technology (CST) report recommended that public dialogue projects should be more effectively embedded into policy making and structures processes. The CST Called for an explicit framework for the use of public dialogue to inform science and technology and related policies. In December 2006, the Government announced its intention to set up a new Expert Resource Centre for Public Dialogue in Science and Innovation and this led to the establishment of the Sciencewise-ERC (Expert Resource Centre) in May 2007. This ran until 2012.

2012- 2015: Ricardo Energy and Environment (EAE), in partnership with Involve and the British Science Association are awarded the contract for the delivery of Sciencewise from April 2012 to March 2016. The overall agreed objective is described as follows:

To improve policy making involving science and technology across Government by increasing the effectiveness with which public dialogue is used, and encouraging its wider use where appropriate [to ensure public views are considered as part of the evidence base].

2017- 2019: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) selected Involve to run the Sciencewise programme. 

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

The Sciencewise Programme is led and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), with support provided by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BEIS). The delivery of each dialogue project involves different organisations, with Sciencewise providing up to 50% of the funding. In 2017 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy selected Involve to run the Sciencewise programme from 2017-2019. Sciencewise provides up to 50% of the funding for individual dialogue projects, the delivery of each project involves other organisations. 

Participant Recruitment and Selection

The Sciencewise programme encompasses a range of diverse projects, with different needs and consequently methods regarding recruitment and selection of participants. Recruitment is typically performed by specialist organisations with guidance from Sciencewise and organisations delivering the particular case.

One principle of public dialogues outlined by the Scienceiwse programme is ensuring participants are representative of a diverse range of backgrounds and views. Consequently public dialogues tend to recruit participants using demographic and attitudinal criteria, rather than self-selecting. 

Methods and Tools Used

The Sciencewise Programme has been involved in a wide variety of dialogue cases that have employed various methods and tools, Sciencewise will typically provide support and expertise in the development of methodologies, including the development of a toolkit for those seeking to deliver a public dialogue.

The Sciencewise programme is the UK Government’s exemplar of how to develop robust evidence on public views to inform policy development in areas of scientific and technological innovation. Established in 2004, the programme has supported over 50 dialogue projects which have used a variety of methods, often in combination with other forms of engagement. The Sciencewise site describes how deliberative dialogues can be combined with other qualitative and quantitative tools to allow for data from a wider sample of the public in combination with in-depth engagement. Sciencewise has developed a Public Views Toolkit to provide support in understanding tools and techniques used in dialogue projects. Methods covered by the toolkit are listed below:

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

Sciencewise co-funds and supports a wide range of public dialogue projects to support policy making in issues involving science and technology. Dialogue projects are listed below

Bioscience

Data Management and Use

Energy and Climate Change

Environment

Food

Futures

Governing Science and Technology

Healthcare

Nanotechnology

Public Engagement and Practice

Regulation and Governance

Risk, Resilience and Adaptation

Wellbeing

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

Sciencewise evaluates all its activities to identify impacts, share good practice and demonstrate the value of public dialogue. The evaluation reports of individual public dialogue projects are all published, and there have been regular evaluations of the Sciencewise programme overall. Sciencewise shares its experiences with dialogues and has also had wider impacts.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

During 2013, it was agreed that it would be appropriate for a full independent evaluation to be undertaken of the Sciencewise programme 2012 - 2015. The aim of this evaluation was to examine the programme's activities, achievements and impacts, and to draw out lessons and opportunities for the future. Risk and Policy Analysts (RPA) were commissioned, through competitive tender, to undertake the evaluation and their final report was published in March 2015.

The first evaluation of the Sciencewise programme as a whole (projects and programme activities) was undertaken during 2009 - 2010, primarily to review the activities of the programme from 2008 to 2010. However, as this was the first major review of the programme, it also covered the history and early activities of Sciencewise from its original launch in 2004, particularly in relation to the public dialogue projects funded by Sciencewise from the beginning. This report was published in May 2011.

A second programme evaluation was undertaken during 2011 - 2012, focused largely on the impacts and lessons from the projects completed since the previous evaluation report. That report was published in March 2013, together with a separate annex analysing the longer term impacts of the projects that had been identified during the course of this evaluation research.

A third internal programme evaluation was completed during 2013 - 2014. The report covers the impacts and lessons from projects completed since the previous evaluation report, and a summary of wider programme activities

See Also

Sciencewise Participedia Entries 

References

External Links

Official Website: https://sciencewise.org.uk/ 

Methods and Tools

Evaluation

  • Evaluation of the Sciencewise Programme (link)
  • Theory of Change (link)
  • Programme Evaluation report May 2011 (link)
  • Programme Evaluation Report March 2013 (link)
  • Programe Evaluation Report 2013/2014 (link)

Notes