Politicians and the public don’t necessarily view R&D in the same way, yet as advocates we may not be changing our messages to suit our audience.
CaSE’s public opinion work aims to help anyone talking about R&D to reach broader audiences by tailoring their messages. The programme has extensively explored how the public think and feel about R&D as a political priority, including through a landmark study of public attitudes to R&D that surveyed more than 20,000 people and held 14 focus groups across the UK in 2022-23. Combining this data with insights from experts across the R&D sector, we have developed guidance for anyone who want to make R&D matter to more people, whether that’s the public or politicians.
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We hope these guides are useful in your influencing activities, and we welcome you sharing the content and repurposing it for your own work. Key statistics are referenced throughout the guides, with the full evidence available on our Public Attitudes to R&D pages. If you have feedback on the guides, please contact Rebecca Hill.
Which guide is for you?
I want to engage the public about R&D in a way that feels relevant
Our Guide for Engaging the Public aims to help advocates engage the public with R&D content in a way that feels meaningful, clear and relevant.
In particular, we encourage advocates to talk about R&D’s purpose and the places it happens, as proven ways to make R&D feel more tangible.
This guide is for any organisation or individual engaging with the public about R&D and R&D investment.
I want to show politicians that the public cares about R&D
Our Guide for Engaging Politicians aims to help advocates convey the nature of public support for R&D, using key statistics from our research.
Advocates must convey the public’s interest in R&D to secure long-term political support.
This guide is for any organisation or individual engaging with political decision makers at national, regional or local level.
I'm an MP who wants to talk about R&D in my campaigning
Our Guide to R&D on the Doorstep aims to support candidates who want to advocate for R&D.
The public believe investing in R&D is important, they support their MPs taking action to support R&D locally and nationally, and want to know more about local research.
MPs and those working alongside them can harness this public appetite by championing R&D in Parliament and in their constituencies.
I want to engage the public about global-facing R&D
This guide aims to help those communicating about research that is conducted in the UK, but whose benefits may largely be felt outside the UK.
The public support the UK playing a role in solving global challenges, and R&D’s role in this, but advocates must recognise public concerns about problems at home.
This guide offers practical advice for organisations across the R&D and development sectors.
Read the Guide for Engaging the Public about Global-Facing R&D
Search for constituency predictions
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, CaSE commissioned Public First, who worked with Electoral Calculus, to produce a constituency-level analysis of a set of 13 questions exploring public attitudes to R&D, with a focus on specific actions that could be taken by MPs or on a local level.
To explore these predictions and use them in your engagement with Parliamentary candidates or MPs, search for the relevant constituency below and then click on the results bar to copy the results for that question. The full results for this analysis can be found here.