“It is vital that the R&D sector strengthens its relationship with the public; if this connection is weak, it poses a real risk to long-term political buy-in.
“Public Attitudes to Science 2025 confirms that the public values science, but does not feel it benefits society equally, or on a personal level. Crucially, the study emphasises a clear course of action: making R&D more tangible, more open and more representative of the society it serves.
“Many of the findings resonate with those of CaSE’s Public Attitudes to R&D 2025, which 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. We look forward to working with UKRI, BSA and others in the R&D community to put the insights from these complementary studies into action.
“We will be discussing this in more detail at CaSE’s Reimagining R&D conference on 10 February, where a panel will bring together representatives from Public Attitudes to Science, CaSE, and Universities UK to consider how public attitudes will help shape the future of R&D.”
Dr Alicia Greated
Executive Director, Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE)
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