The New Social Contract for Science: Accountability, Relevance,and Value in US and UK Science and Research Policy

Abstract

This paper considers recent changes in US and UK science policy designed to make academic research more publicly accountable and relevant. To this end, relations between public sector funding bodies academic researchers, andthe wider public are being reorganized in terms of customer‐contractor relations, though cultural and institutional differences mean these broad trends have produced different outcomes in the US and UK to which geographers will have to adapt. New forms of market based, customer accountability are restructuring the context of scientific research and reorienting long standing academic norms and values. Though these changes are designed to make academic research more responsive to the demands of various paying customers, the paper suggests the importance of reflexivity about the interests and identity involved.