‘Creating excellence in public dialogue to inform better policy’ Sciencewise is a unique UK Government programme, which provides opportunities for people to have their views heard by Ministers and senior civil servants on emerging areas of science & technology to help them develop policies which affect us all. The Sciencewise Programme is funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), which now has responsibility for science and innovation policy in the UK following the re-organisation of Government departments in June 2007. Some individual Sciencewise projects also receive part-funding from other departments and funding sources. View the latest edition of the Sciencewise Newsletter. CLICK HERE   Find out more about the aims and objectives of Sciencewise. CLICK HERE   Read more about our project in focus: sciencehorizons. CLICK HERE

Sciencewise has three main aims:

• To develop the Government’s ability to have effective two-way conversations with people (dialogue) on a range of scientific issues
• To gather examples of where this has worked well and share this learning across all Government departments
• To make sure that taking part in this type of two-way conversation becomes part of the normal everyday process of policy making in the UK

In order to achieve this, Sciencewise works with policy makers in a number of different ways. It helps them identify areas of future policy in which they might need to know people’s opinions. It helps them develop a range of different activities in which scientists, experts and members of the public can come together on an equal footing to talk through the issues. In some cases, it provides funding to help policy makers commission specialists to carry out this conversation. It then monitors the resulting project to make sure everyone’s opinions are heard and taken into account.

Sciencewise works alongside the Government Office for Science Horizon Scanning Centre and Foresight programme. Both of these bring together scientists, experts and other stakeholders to consider how science & technology might develop in the future and to make recommendations to Government about the priorities for future research. Sciencewise is also part of ‘Together We Can’, a cross-Departmental initiative, which makes it possible for people to work together with the Government and public bodies for the benefit of society as a whole.

From the end of 2007, Sciencewise will work closely with the Beacons for Public Engagement being set up within a number of UK universities with funding from the Research Councils UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in association with the Wellcome Trust. The Beacons will help to build capacity and recognise and reward good practice in public engagement within Higher Educations Institutes.

Further information on the Sciencewise Programme can be found by clicking here.