PPI 2015 Unit IV

What are the benefits of engaging the public?

• Better research: members of the public raise relevant questions. Projects that have been defined and researched in partnership with the public often result in greater impact and relevance.
• Transparency and accountability: most research funding is public money and we should be able to explain what we do and why, so we need to open up our research to public scrutiny.
• What is our research good for? We need to demonstrate that our research has an impact, hopefully that it benefits health or health care i.e. it responds to social/health need. If a new treatment or better way of managing disease has been identified, or if something has proved to be harmful or a waste of money, then the public should know about it.
• It promotes a scientifically literate public
• It allows debate around new/controversial/poorly understood topics and promotes public understanding
• It inspires people; this is especially important in getting young people interested in science and science careers. 
• It is valuable experience for researchers: interesting, good fun and great for your CV.
• It is valuable for the public: stimulates curiosity, interest and should be fun.
• Research-aware people are more likely to take part in clinical trials.

There is an additional imperative for academic researchers (including clinician researchers) in the UK to engage the public. The impact of research is assessed as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)—the mechanism used in UK higher education to determine the best quality research and consequently the allocation of money among universities. This requires researchers to demonstrate how their research has changed or benefitted society, including public engagement with research.

Public or publics? Is there a public?

It may be more useful to think of ‘publics’; when Grand et al asked researchers which communities they engaged with, they said: “media professionals, teachers, parents, school pupils, learned societies, healthcare professionals, patients, policy-makers, non-governmental organisations, companies, industrial partners, charities, community groups, voluntary and third sector organisations, university students and anonymous audiences such as viewers, listeners and readers of mass media”. These are very diverse groups and methods of engagement need to be tailored to their interests and needs.