SciDev.Net -- How to increase public engagement in science

SciDev.Net -- How to increase public engagement in science:

"There are three main arguments that favour an increased democratic engagement with the practice of science. The first, as indicated above, is that much of science is directly financed from the public purse. For that reason alone, scientists who benefit have a direct responsibility to ensure that their work aligns with the priorities of the public that supports them. This responsibility only increases in a political era that requires greater transparency and accountability from all those who receive public funding.

"A second reason is more explicitly political. The alternative to direct public engagement in setting the research agenda is to allow this to be done by the requirements of the market-place. This has certainly been the dominant philosophy in the way that science has been funded in most developed countries over the past 20 years. During this time, both university laboratories and government research institutes have been increasingly required to mould their research agendas to the demands of market forces, in the name of promoting rapid economic growth....

"The third factor encouraging greater public engagement in science is perhaps the most pressing. Without such engagement, the current widespread distrust in science is only likely to increase. And this in turn is likely to translate into a lack of the political support that is so vital if the full potential offered by science for achieving both social and economic progress is to be achieved."