A survey to gather perspectives of DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance-funded researchers on public engagement with science

Sarah Iqbal,Banya Kar

doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17120.1

Abstract

Lately, the Indian research ecosystem has seen an upward trend in scientists showing interest in communicating their science and engaging with non-scientific audiences; however, the number and variety of science communication or public engagement activities undertaken formally by scientists remains low in the country. There could be many contributing factors for this trend. To explore this further, the science funding public charity in India, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance (India Alliance), in a first of its kind of study by a funding agency in India, surveyed its 243 research grantees in November 2020 requesting their views on public engagement with science in India through an online survey. The survey included both quantitative as well as open-ended questions to assess the understanding of, participation in, and attitude of India Alliance Fellows/Grantees towards public engagement with research, identify the enablers, challenges, and barriers to public engagement for India Alliance Fellows/Grantees, understand the specific needs (training/capacity-building, funding, etc.) and develop recommendations for India Alliance as well as for the larger scientific ecosystem in the country. The survey showed that India Alliance grantees are largely motivated to engage with the public about science or their research but lack professional recognition and incentives, training and structural support to undertake public engagement activities.

Highlights

It is being increasingly observed and accepted that advancements in science and technology towards improving human health and planetary well-being can be made more sustainable and equitable through building mutual understanding and collaboration between scientists and the public[1,2,3,4,5]
Understanding of and participation in public engagement a) Understanding of public engagement In Figure 1, it can be seen that 13% of the respondents indicated that public engagement to them meant ‘sharing information about your research’, 13% indicated ‘interacting with the public on matters of science and health’, 10% selected ‘sharing information about science in general with the public’, 2% selected ‘collaborating/working with the public’ and 61% of the respondents said public engagement to them meant ‘all of these’
A select few responses to the open-ended question on respondents’ understanding of public engagement is provided below: “For me, public engagement is to collaborate and/or associate/partner with communities that are affected by the research and/or its findings

Summary

Introduction

It is being increasingly observed and accepted that advancements in science and technology towards improving human health and planetary well-being can be made more sustainable and equitable through building mutual understanding and collaboration between scientists and the public (defined here as non-expert audience including policymakers, research participants, and lay audience)[1,2,3,4,5] For this reason, science along with citizen engagement is considered as an important mechanism for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2030)[6] of the United Nations, which are 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. Alleviation of public anxiety, research uptake, and prompt evidence-based actions would rely significantly on the engagement of experts with policymakers, media and the public at large[7,8]

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Conclusion