UK SBS BLOJEU-CR16106RCUK UK SBS Insight Project

Descriptions

The Research Councils have a key role in informing citizens about research, its outcomes and implications and empowering them to engage with research. The Research Councils need insight into how public audiences consume and engage with, react to, and behave in response to information about research. This project will enable the Research Councils individually and collectively to: •better tailor their communications and engagement activities to be audience-led; •track long-term trends in changing attitudes, sentiment and engagement, and use this to assess the success of activities and refine approaches as necessary. Objectives Generic RCUK Component The work should allow the Research Councils to understand: •How general public audiences segment in terms of their engagement with and sentiment towards research; its process, results and implications – including an indication of the relative size of each segment; •How, when and where the segments access information about research; •The degree to which the segments either passively consume or actively engage with research; •Any significant differences in people’s engagement with or sentiment towards different areas of research. Environmental science focused component Alongside the generic RCUK component, the contractor should undertake a specific work focussing on environmental science. Within this component of the project, the Research Councils require a specific detailed understanding into how the UK public engage with environmental science and their attitudes towards major issues of environmental science to provide a baseline and insight for the new public engagement strategy being delivered by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).