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9th March 2010 (Source: Department for Business )
The frontiers of social and economic progress depend on science and engineering, but they also depend on the boundaries placed on science and engineering by society. These boundaries depend on public perceptions of the trustworthyness of the science and engineering communities and also on public confidence in the regulatory framework.
Public trust is vital if the UK is to secure maximum benefit from science and engineering in the UK for both society and the economy. The purpose of this Group was to help ensure that science and engineering in the UK continue to have public confidence and to be underpinned by ethics and social responsibility.
Commenting on the publication of their report and the work of the Group, joint-chair Aileen Allsop said :
"First of all, I would like to thank members of the group and the numerous other independent experts and specialists who have supported the Group’s work and the preparation of our report."
"I believe that, in response to last year’s Science and Society consultation, this Group have now presented a substantial set of recommendations and actions which, if taken forward by the suggested lead individuals and organisations will help to achieve our overarching aim of:
"Enhancing society’s capabilities to make better informed judgements about sciences and their uses in order to ensure that the 'licence to operate' is socially robust"
The main premise of the Science and Trust Expert Group is that there is no sign of a "crisis of trust" in science and engineering – but there are concerns about the way they are applied within Government and industry. This conclusion is backed up by analysis of survey and qualitative data. There are particular criticisms of the Government’s approach to communicating the regulatory landscape.
In their report Group members call for a new attitude to trust in the UK, and an acceptance that healthy but informed scepticism is preferable to a society where people blindly and unquestionably trust sciences and scientists.
The Group also concluded that, to support a culture which is equipped to make informed judgements, the focus should be on enabling greater discussion of risk and uncertainty, and opening up debate around the processes involved in the production of scientific knowledge. There is much good work occurring across the board to work towards this, but the Group calls for greater co-ordination of activity; this relates to the wider themes covered in the report, including ethical codes, supporting processes and communication of ethical issues and governance.
The report and recommended action plan contains around 100 recommendations and proposed actions under the following eight headings:
• Supporting public judgements on Science and their uses
• Acknowledging Risk and Uncertainty
• Scientific Advice
• Private Industry and Science Advice
• The Ethical Contexts of Science and Research
• Building partnerships
• Evaluating Science and Society initiatives
• Monitoring Public Attitudes and Progress
This action plan proposes a broad range of activities involving many organisations which the Group is confident will help the UK to achieve the ultimate goal of enabling all our publics to make better informed judgements about the ways in which science and engineering are produced, used and applied in the UK.
Key recommendations include:
• Government should take better account of risk and uncertainties in policy making.
• Science and engineering advice processes in Government should be strengthened and the Scientific Advisory Committee Structure should be strengthened.
• Structures should be created to promote the transparent use of science and engineering in business and industry.
• The importance of ethical behaviour should be emphasised and encouraged at all stages of exposure to science and engineering – from school through to careers.
• Government, business and academia should all recognise the need to work more effectively together to ensure the benefits offered to society by science and engineering are fully exploited.
• Scientists and engineers should work closely with social scientists and other research professionals in developing and using good evaluation practice.
However, the Group also felt that it would be wrong to stop there and so called on science and engineering practitioners across Government, business and academia – in fact all those involved in this landscape - to think more carefully about how they communicate their activities, and work together to ensure that the lessons learned from interactions are shared and built upon. The current picture is of a system which is active but which may achieve less than it could because of lack of co-ordination, with resources not disseminated as actively as they should be. Commenting on next steps, Aileen Allsop said:
"Looking to the future, Group members believe that a follow-on group - or groups – need to be established to drive forward the recommendations and action plans from all five of the Science and Society Expert Groups commissioned by Lord Drayson. We need to ensure that this is done in away that delivers a coherent and interlocking programme which secures maximum benefit from complementary actions"
Notes to editors
1. For media enquiries, please contact co-chair, Aileen Allsop at 01625 513401; Aileen.Allsop@AstraZeneca.com
2. Report Title: Science and Trust - Starting a National Conversation about Good Science.
http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/site/trust/
This report was produced the Science and Trust Expert Group – an independent group supported by a secretariat from the department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
This was one of five Independent Expert Groups commissioned by Science Minister Lord Drayson to develop recommendations to drive forward the Science and Society Agenda in response to the Science and Society consultation last year. The other groups are:
• Science and the Media
• Science for All
• Science and Learning
• Science for Careers
The reports from the other groups can be found at:
http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety
3. This Group included representatives from Industry, Academia, National Academies and Government – and in preparing their report and recommendations the Group consulted a wide range of representatives including those from Research Councils, NDPBs, Learned Societies, NGOs and the charity sector.
This Group was commissioned by Science Minister Lord Paul Drayson to work with Government and other stakeholders to make recommendations and propose actions to
The Group was charged with: developing an action plan to address – ways of building trust between science and the public; an evaluation of the Universal Ethical Code for Scientists; building partnerships; and.
• Develop new ways to build increased public trust in science and engineering
• Review the impact of the existing Universal Ethical Code for Scientists and explore whether it meets the current needs of science and society
• Improve partnerships working, facilitating the movement of knowledge and people across the different sectors in order to maximise the benefits and impacts of science and society activities
• Form a view on evaluation processes involved in science and society interventions and pursue a more coherent evaluation model of the impacts of science and society initiatives.
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