Across the day, more than one hundred delegates joined from across the R&D sector, including representatives from policy, advocacy, public affairs, public engagement and communications roles in universities, businesses and third sector organisations.
Delegates gathered to hear more about the tools and public opinion data being delivered through CaSE’s Discovery Decade programme, and to explore the implications for the future of R&D advocacy.
The first session offered a rallying call to the R&D sector about the challenges it faces in promoting the importance of R&D to public audiences. In her keynote, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, UKRI Chief Executive, called on the R&D sector to heed the Discovery Decade findings and shift the sector’s practices and public-facing narrative – aiming to better reflect the diversity and connections of the sector, and its efforts to solve the problems faced by society.
Following this keynote, Ottoline Leyser joined a Q&A panel of leading R&D voices to discuss the practical steps towards a closer relationship between R&D and the public.
Making R&D Matter to Government
Read the summary of the final conference session in which we heard from the Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology, Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP.
Read moreLater in the morning, CaSE launched the new Research Develop Thrive campaign badge – designed to help the R&D sector develop a more collective voice and connect the diverse activities that sit under the umbrella of R&D. The badge, which has eight variations, is designed to help R&D organisations demonstrate the place and purpose of their work.
Alongside the launch of Research Develop Thrive, delegates were given a guided tour of the advocacy tools produced by the Discovery Decade programme – including a series of advocacy guides for engaging with public and political audiences, and CaSE’s constituency-level analysis of public opinions towards R&D which aims to help R&D stakeholders nurture a new cohort of champions in Westminster.
In an afternoon workshop, attendees put ideas into practice with an interactive group exercise to develop a collaborative, evidence-informed campaign around a series of advocacy scenarios. This workshop brought out lively discussions as opinion data was weighed, tactics chosen and campaigns designed.
Later that afternoon delegates explored CaSE’s People’s Vision for R&D project – a deliberative dialogue exercise with 33 members of the public exploring the public’s sense of agency and ownership in R&D, and how this could change in the future. Two of the public participants joined the panel as speakers, alongside R&D sector representatives, and spoke about their experience on the project and their hopes for the future involvement of the public in the R&D sector’s work.
The conference closed with a session focused on making R&D matter to Government, with a speech and Q&A with Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, innovation and Technology, and a panel of political experts discussing the path ahead for R&D in the new Parliament. Further details on this session can be found here.
Related resources
Making R&D matter more to Government
18 September 2024
We were delighted to welcome Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, to CaSE’s Making R&D Matter to More People conference on Wednesday 11th September.
People’s Vision for R&D: NatCen and NCCPE Reports
09 September 2024
Read the full results of CaSE’s People’s Vision for R&D public dialogue project exploring society’s stake in R&D.
People’s Vision for R&D: How to move from principles to action
09 September 2024
As part of CaSE’s People’s Vision for R&D public dialogue project exploring society’s stake in R&D, CaSE has made recommendations for action from the R&D sector.
What CaSE has learned from a public dialogue exploring society’s stake in R&D
09 September 2024
Advocacy and engagement manager Rebecca Hill reflects on the People’s Vision for R&D public dialogue exploring society’s stake in R&D.