John Innes Centre: Public Dialogue to Inform Science Strategy
Ipsos was commissioned by the John Innes Centre (JIC), Sciencewise, and the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) to carry out a public dialogue.
The objectives of the dialogue were:
- To inform the development of the JIC’s proposed Science Strategy for 2017-2022.
- To provide members of the public with an opportunity to engage in determining the challenges which this strategy should aim to address.
- To inform the development of a new governance framework and initiatives to support and encourage public dialogue in JIC in future.
The dialogue comprised day-and-a-half-long face-to-face dialogue workshops in Norwich and Birmingham in March and April 2015 with 32 members of the public; an online community of 446 participants; and desk research of previously-conducted relevant dialogue studies
The broad question of the dialogue, to which participants were introduced, was:
“How should JIC meet the challenges of the future when it comes to food and medicine?”
In developing the dialogue approach and stimulus Ipsos consulted the leads of the Independent Strategic Programmes (ISPs) at JIC, conducted the desk research and ran a Researcher Day with JIC scientists.
An independent advisory group was convened to comment on and contribute to discussion of materials and approaches used within the dialogue, and to provide a sounding board for the final report, representing a breadth of sectors and interests.
The dialogue elicited six principles which the public would like to see JIC focus when taking strategic decisions. For further details of these principles please download the full report above and view a summary of the principles on the JIC website.
