The public value of science: or how to ensure that science really matters

This pamphlet argues that the UK needs to find new ways of talking about and building "the public value of science". The UK's hope of becoming the best place in the world to do science rests as much on giving scientists the freedom and incentive to renew their institutions and practices, as it does on 10-year frameworks and R&D targets.

This reinforces the need to engage the public in decisions about science. Ethical considerations and public engagement should become part of everyday scientific practice. The time is right for examining the means and the details of public engagement.

The authors warn of the corresponding dangers arising from the influence of business on academic research, and recommends some areas for action:

• commercial pressures will restrict the openness of academic research, and stifle wider debate about the role of science in society
• a radical overhaul of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which fails to recognise the value of ethical reflection by scientists or engagement with the wider public
• scientists need more opportunities to talk about the ethical choices they are making, and the purposes to which their research might be directed. The structures surrounding university research – for funding, career development and research assessment – currently push in the opposite direction.

The pamphlet also proposes a Commission on Emerging Technologies and Society, which would support public and policy debate about key developments in nanotechnology, biotechnology and neuroscience. Half of the Commission’s members could be scientists, policymakers and other stakeholders, and half could be drawn from the general public. The Commission would also be tasked with initiating wider public engagement exercises. [adapted from author]