Public Attitudes to Science 2025 emphasises vital need to build connections with the public

PARD25 found that, despite high levels of instinctive support for R&D among the public, its benefits feel vague, hard to articulate and not relevant to their lives. Shallow connections weaken public support for R&D and this is a risk for political buy-in that is vital to address.

Both surveys suggest a clear way to address this gap in connection: greater transparency from the R&D sector, and more opportunities for involvement of the public in both research and related policy decisions.

PAS 2025 reports a clear desire for public involvement, dialogue and representation, with clear support for more information about science – from those funding, regulating and conducting it – and greater representation of the public in research. Again, this reflects CaSE’s own findings; for instance, in PARD25 80% agreed that the public needs to know more about how taxpayers’ money is used for R&D.

Underlying these findings is a desire for openness and honesty from those involved in R&D – a requirement that our sector should pay even closer attention to given PAS 2025’s findings that some aspects of trust in science have fallen, and broader concerns about the implications of new technologies, including AI, which was found to polarise public opinion.

As a sector, we must work harder to move the public’s connection with the R&D community from a vague sense of approval, towards a stronger relationship. Doing so is all the more important in a shifting political landscape, and we must not be complacent – or take the positive results of these studies for granted. However, we are not starting from scratch. We can build on the public’s broad awareness and instinctive support, and the sector benefits from a wealth of expertise in building lasting connections with the public.

CaSE has published a set of priorities for the R&D sector to collectively work towards over the next three years to position our sector for the future, including making R&D feel more human and more local; demonstrating its relevance to priority issues; and proper resourcing for public communication, engagement and involvement in R&D.