Engaging the Nation with Science and Research: A Vision for the Future

Sir Mark Walport, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government

Faraday at the Royal Institution (Credit: Royal Institution)

Engaging the nation with science is not about ‘correcting the deficit’

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(Credit: Science Museum)

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Public engagement needs to stimulate interest, demonstrate relevance, and show where it might

lead…

Could the naked mole rat help find a cure for cancer?

Should we do GM research - what are

the risks and benefits

Is nuclear fission the energy of the future?

Three areas for scientific engagement:

Things that are interesting:

• Fundamental science: the Higgs boson, genetics and genome science, and how the brain works

Things that affect us directly:

• e.g. medical science

Things where an informed public has societal benefits:

• e.g. environmental issues, climate change, vaccination…

(Credit: BBC)

(Credit: Advanced Cell Technology)

(Credit: BBC)

The scientific consensus on climate change is overwhelming

IPCC report on the physical science basis of climate change due out shortly

This is the most authoritative and comprehensive report to date of scientists’ understanding of how the climate is changing and the causes

The science is robust and there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that human emissions of greenhouse gases are warming the climate

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Source: Poortinga et al (2013)

As far as you know, do you personally think that the world’s climate is changing? (in %)

Although a clear majority of the public still think the climate is changing, there has been a downward trend in public belief in the reality of climate change

The level of consensus among the public is divided

Concern about climate change among the public has also decreased

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Source: Poortinga et al (2013)

Concern about climate change (in %)

Although those who think there is a human component to climate change has remained

fairly stable

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Source: Poortinga et al (2013)

Thinking about the causes of climate change, which, if any, of the following best describes your opinion?

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Possible Explanations

• Global economic downturn

• Sceptic voices in the media

• Increasing climate fatigueFrom Poortinga et al, 2013

The reasons for decrease in belief in, and concern about, climate change are likely to be manifold

(Credit: PA)

(Credit: REUTERS)

Public perceptions of climate change are important

• The scale of transformation required for a low carbon economy is likely to require behaviour change

• Political will depends on public attitudes, so we need a public that is well-informed, both about the risks, and the options for responding 

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(Credit: Ulverstan Green Party)(Credit: Action Tracker) (Credit: Jeremy Hughes)

www.myclimateandme.com

Climate change: science to policy issues

We need to understand public concerns

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Nick Pidgeon et al

Reducing the use of finite resources

Reducing overall levels of energy

use

Efficient

Environmental protection

Avoiding waste

Capturing opportunities

Naturalness and Nature

Availability and Affordability

ReliabilitySafety

Autonomy and Freedom

Choice and Control

Social Justice

Fairness, Honesty & Transparency

Long-term trajectories

Interconnected

Improvement and quality

(Source: Cardiff University, 2013)

Energy policy needs to take account of publicvalues

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Biofuels

Environmental harm, pollution?

Clean, efficient?

Waste products reused?

Grown for purpose in UK?

Conflict with food systems (unfair)?

Safe?

Security?

It’s not just about the technologies, it’s also about the values that they symbolise for people

Carbon capture and storage

Climate change: science to policy issues14 Engaging the nation with science and research: a vision for the future

Negative emissions

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Public attitudes are susceptible to change – public dialogue on science and policy should be an on-

going process

Source: Poortinga et al (2013)

Percentage of respondents having mainly or very favourable opinions or impressions of different energy sources for producing electricity

We don’t do ourselves any favours communicating complex information

Mitigation/adaptation, Discount rate, pH, Gigatonnes, Petagrams, Billion tonnes (of carbon, carbon dioxide), PPM, eqCO2, Attribution, Negative emissions, Climate sensitivity, Anthropogenic, Multi-decadal oscillation, Datasets, Urban heat island, NOAA...

Switch off words….

Excellent in one context, challenging in public engagement!

www.my2050.decc.gov.uk

We all need to communicate more!- but the direction of travel is good

• Academia – engagement now commonly tied to research funding

• The media – long history and excellent examples, but also some very bad examples…

• Government – open policy making and Civil Service Reform, reinforce need and capability to engage

• Wider society are already there and can help the rest of us

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. We apologise for any errors or omissions in the included attributions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future versions of this slide set. We can be contacted through enquiries@bis.gsi.gov.uk .

@uksciencechief

www.bis.gov.uk/go-science