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DU research into nanotechnology and geoengineering has used deliberative forms of public engagement involving focus groups with lay publics to explore the complexity of societal concerns about emerging technologies. The results of this research have made a major contribution to the development of a framework of responsible innovation. This framework has been applied to RCUK-funded research, where it led to the withdrawal of the UK's first field trial of a prospective geoengineering technology. This framework has had direct impact on European policy debate and on the UK's Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, which has begun to embed responsible innovation in an operational context.
In the face of perceived public concerns about technological innovations, leading national and international bodies increasingly recognize the need for dialogue between policy makers, scientific researchers and social actors in order to develop the technologies to address the grand challenges facing our societies in a way that meets social needs and gains public trust. The Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the EU, the UK Government and many funding bodies are addressing this issue by insisting on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in the development of emerging technologies, yet the mechanisms for implementing RRI remain largely unspecified. Researchers in SSHM (Rose, Singh, Marris and colleagues) have established a Foresight and Responsible Research and Innovation Laboratory (FRRIL) that has devised and implemented the first detailed frameworks for applying the principles of RRI in the regulation of synthetic biology, novel neurotechnologies and cognitive enhancement; providing important, replicable models for translating the principles of RRI into policy and practice in emerging biotechnologies.
Professor Andy Miah's research on the ethics of human enhancement has transformed the working lives of three principal professional communities: curators of UK flagship festivals and exhibitions (Abandon Normal Devices festival, the Wellcome Trust, Edinburgh International Science Festival); journalists (coverage on doping); and politicians and civil servants working on technology policy (European Parliament, World Anti-Doping Agency). His pioneering research has led to the creation of new artistic work, shaped policy directions, contributed to public engagement with bioethics, and advanced debate on the ethics of digital and biological technology.
80% of all government policies are delivered through large-scale projects and programmes. In the private and the public sector alike they are key to innovation, change, and growth. However, they often go wrong. The research has impacted on the performance of a number of projects by changing the way projects are planned, managed, and assured. The impact is the result of the research programme of the BT Centre for Major Programme Management (BTC), a research centre of the Saïd Business School. The research has had an impact on a wide range of management and policy issues in the UK and internationally. This case study highlights three examples. The first is impact on the UK government's assessment of projects through work with the National Audit Office (NAO). The second is innovation of professional services at McKinsey & Company. The third is impact on the largest infrastructure investment in the developed world - the California High Speed Rail project.
This case study is based on research at the interface of computer science and biology, undertaken at MMU. Subsequent inter-disciplinary work was partly supported by the EPSRC Bridging the Gaps: NanoInfoBio project, and led to the creation of a new "citizen science" organization, which is now one of the leading groups of its type in the world. The specific impacts are (1) generation of revenue for a new business operation created as a result of the project, (2) the stimulation of and influence on policy debate, and (3) the stimulation of public interest and engagement in science and engineering.
The Centre for Citizenship, Globalisation and Governance (C2G2) at the University of Southampton is at the forefront of increasingly important policy and practice considerations about how to enhance civic behaviour using forms of intervention beyond legislation and taxation. Its research in this field has influenced the UK government's approach to the concept of the Big Society and has helped shape the broader debate on how nudging behaviour change can reshape public service delivery. Through media exposure and engagement in high-level interactions with policymakers, the researchers at Southampton have framed the thinking of governments at all levels, think-tanks and voluntary associations both in the UK and internationally.
The ESRC Innogen Centre brought together a multiplicity of disciplines for a large 12-year research programme (2002-14) on the impact of regulation on innovation dynamics in the life sciences. Research design promoted interactions between stakeholders to achieve policy impact. Innogen developed a range of tooIs to disseminate research findings and influence policy in Europe, the African Union (AU), Kenya, Qatar and at the OECD. We used secondments and temporary placements to achieve impact, as well as more traditional activities and outputs, resulting in major policy impacts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Research at Oxford has played a central role within the recent restructuring of the nursing workforce to improve healthcare quality in a context of growing service demands and tightening resource constraints. Much of this restructuring has been heavily dependent on the use of the Healthcare Assistant (HCA) role, provoking much controversy. Presented as a flexible, low cost resource, these HCA roles are also unregulated and therefore seen as a potential source of patient risk. Oxford researchers have fed into this debate across a number of projects, strengthening the evidence base on the nature and consequences of the HCA role. Examining the role from the perspective of different stakeholders, these projects have impacted on national, regional and local policy and practice centred on the management and use of HCAs. In so doing, the research has contributed to the development of a more productive and safer nursing workforce.
Tim Lewens' research into risk, trust and bioethics can be shown to have informed and influenced policy debate. This work has shaped reports of the Business Innovation and Skills working group on Science and Trust, and also reports from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Lewens' key contributions to the latter's Human Bodies Report have resulted in invitations to give evidence to the Welsh National Assembly, thus helping to shape the Assembly's drafting of its new bill on human transplantation. His work on the Council's report on Mitochondrial Disorders has been echoed in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's (HFEA's) recent advice to UK Ministers, which aims to inform forthcoming debate to alter existing legislation on experimental mitochondrial therapies. Lewens' research has also led to his being asked to take on consulting roles to industry, most recently with AstraZeneca.