R&D can improve lives and livelihoods – but only if the public and policymakers see its full potential and support investment into it. The world-leading R&D taking place in Scotland and Wales is a crucial component in maintaining a thriving UK R&D sector and ensuring benefits to society and local economies are felt across all nations.
The 2026 Holyrood and Senedd elections offer the R&D sector an opportunity to nurture a new cohort of supporters among elected representatives in Scotland and Wales. These elections come amid a shifting political landscape; there is an urgent need to proactively engage all new parliamentarians and positively influence their attitudes towards Scotland and Wales’s R&D sectors.
Explore the project
Find out moreA proactive campaign
CaSE is launching a collaborative, highly tailored campaign to raise the profile of R&D in Holyrood and the Senedd and generate political connections for R&D advocates. We will gather public opinion insights to underpin an eye-catching campaign, alongside a portfolio of case studies that show the breadth of R&D across Scotland and Wales. This project builds on the success of CaSE’s constituency-level campaign during the 2024 UK General Election.
Public opinion research of public attitudes to R&D in Scotland and Wales:
The project will include new public opinion polling on issues relevant to each nation, at a level of granularity that will provide insights into public attitudes at an unprecedented depth.
Pre-election – engagement with parliamentary candidates:
Informed by these public opinion insights, we will develop a tailored campaign that demonstrates to parliamentary candidates the relevance and value of R&D as a campaigning issue in their area. This will include an email campaign to parliamentary candidates across all political parties and constituencies of Scotland and Wales, sharing a newly developed campaigning guide that equips candidates to talk about R&D with Scottish and Welsh constituents.
Post-election – engagement with elected politicians:
We will send a personalised Welcome Pack to each newly elected representative in Scotland and Wales. These bespoke packs will share local insights into public attitudes and regional case studies that showcase nearby R&D, alongside practical first steps representatives can take to support local R&D organisations and the wider sector.
How you can get involved
Stronger political support for R&D across all UK nations will help secure more favourable funding settlements and policy outcomes for the R&D sector.
The Holyrood and Senedd elections are an opportunity for the R&D sector to make its case afresh and secure supporters among new or continuing elected officials. Highlighting the views of their constituents is a powerful way to communicate R&D’s relevance and catch the attention of politicians.
CaSE’s core investment in this project is supported by a grant from Wellcome, but it cannot be delivered without further sponsors based in, or with a strong connection to, Scotland or Wales. The expertise of our sponsors will help guide the campaign and their contributions will help fund the underpinning public opinion research in Scotland and Wales. These insights will allow CaSE to produce highly tailored campaign assets that bring R&D to the attention of parliamentarians and help strengthen the connection between the R&D community, the public, and politicians.
Our current sponsors
Our sponsors benefit from:
- An exclusive opportunity to shape the project at a sponsors workshop.
- Informing a landmark public attitudes study in Scotland and Wales, which will produce public opinion data at unprecedented detail to help guide your advocacy during the election period and beyond.
- Having access, at an influential time, to promising supporters among the new cohort of elected representatives surfaced by this campaign, to build politicians’ awareness and support for the issues that matter to your organisation.
- A guaranteed case study in our tailored Welcome Packs for MSPs and MSs, showcasing your R&D to elected representatives in your priority regions.
- Having your organisation’s name and logo on all physical and digital campaign assets sent to parliamentary candidates and elected representatives and on the project page on CaSE’s website.
What next?
We will be hosting a workshop with our sponsors in autumn to shape the next stages of the project together. This will be followed by public opinion research at the start of 2026, which will be published in spring at the same time as the email campaign to parliamentary candidates. After the elections in May 2026, elected representatives will each receive a physical welcome pack, which will be followed by further engagement from the project team.
Related resources
Parliament ‘end-of-term’ R&D policy round-up
28 July 2025
Now that Parliament has finished for the summer, here is an ‘end-of-term’ round-up of all recent CaSE analysis of Government’s plans.
R&D in the 2025 Spending Review
12 June 2025
CaSE’s comprehensive analysis of the measures that impact R&D announced in the 2025 Spending Review
Immigration White Paper – What’s next?
22 May 2025
A week on from the publication, Policy Manager Camilla d’Angelo takes a look at some of the questions that remain to be resolved and what to expect next for the Immigration White Paper.
CaSE submission to House of Lords Financing and Scaling UK Science and Technology Inquiry
21 May 2025
CaSE’s response to the House of Lords Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee inquiry into: Financing and Scaling UK Science and Technology: Innovation, Investment, Industry.