Science out of step with the public: the need for public accountability of science in the UK

Abstract

Whilst there are increasing and welcome efforts to bring the public into decision making about risk, the underlying shaping of the science agenda remains closed to public scrutiny. Therefore, when debating the questions over new technologies, the kinds of knowledge the public requests may not have been gathered. The goal of wealth generation underlying the UK's science programme may not allow for public interest questions to be addressed. Science's institutions enforce a notion of good science which also excludes wider questions. To address the dislocation of science from the public, there needs to be civil society engagement with setting the research agenda.