Science to the rescue or contingent progress? Comparing 10 years of public, expert and policy discourses on new and emerging science and technology in the United Kingdom

Over the past 10 years, numerous public debates on new and emerging science and technologies have taken place in the United Kingdom. In this article, we characterise the discourses emerging from these debates and compare them to the discourses in analogous expert scientific and policy reports. We find that while the public is broadly supportive of new scientific developments, they see the risks and social and ethical issues associated with them as unpredictable but inherent parts of the developments. In contrast, the scientific experts and policymakers see risks and social and ethical issues as manageable and quantifiable with more research and knowledge. We argue that these differences amount to two different sociotechnical imaginaries or views of science and how it shapes our world – an elite imaginary of ‘science to the rescue’ shared by scientists and policymakers and public counter-imaginary of ‘contingent progress’. We argue that these two imaginaries indicate that, but also help explain why, public dialogue has had limited impact on public policy

What has been the impact of public dialogue in science and technology on UK policymaking?

In this research, I set out to understand more about how society influences the course of science and technological development. Specifically, I wanted to know whether the UK’s 10 year-long experience with public dialogue has brought science policy closer to the values of the public. Using a computer assisted text analysis technique, I have looked at the substance of the discussions that take place within these dialogue events and compared them to analogous expert and policy discussions, not only to understand how these discussions have impacted on policy, but also to shed light on how we as a society learn to live with technoscientific developments and on how expertise and evidence is understood, valued and used in policy. I have found that public dialogue has had little effect on policy for three reasons: Firstly, the public in these debates describe a sociotechnical imaginary of science that is more complicated, less manageable and therefore more difficult to fit into policymaking structures and objectives than the imaginary described by scientific experts; Secondly, since they do not come from ‘experts’, the outputs of public dialogue are not considered to be appropriate sources of evidence by policymakers; Thirdly, public dialogue activities take place outside the networks from which UK policymakers draw advice. The outputs of public dialogues do however show that the activities generate some interesting discussions and that the public do have contributions to make to public policy around science and technologies. I conclude that to increase impact, thought needs to be given to the type of decisions that dialogues seek to influence, to engage policymakers in discussions about the sociotechnical imaginaries that are shaping their perceptions of policy and the public, and to ways in which public dialogue can be brought into policymaking networks and coalitions

An assessment of lessons learned in the communication and dissemination of emerging scientific issues to environmental policymakers. Part 1: Comprehensive Report

The relationship between science and policy is often seen as difficult. Yet from climate change to food security, many of the biggest challenges facing the world today rely upon effective policy making, based upon the best science and evidence. We need to make sure that we have established the right level of communication and relationship between these two groups. This research project sets out to look at that communication process: to examine closely the communications involved in real-life science-to-policy case studies and to identify the lessons from the past that can help us deal with scientific issues that are emerging now and those that will emerge in the future

Adolescent health in rural Ghana: A cross-sectional study on the co-occurrence of infectious diseases, malnutrition and cardio-metabolic risk factors.

In sub-Saharan Africa, infectious diseases and malnutrition constitute the main health problems in children, while adolescents and adults are increasingly facing cardio-metabolic conditions. Among adolescents as the largest population group in this region, we investigated the co-occurrence of infectious diseases, malnutrition and cardio-metabolic risk factors (CRFs), and evaluated demographic, socio-economic and medical risk factors for these entities. In a cross-sectional study among 188 adolescents in rural Ghana, malarial infection, common infectious diseases and Body Mass Index were assessed. We measured ferritin, C-reactive protein, retinol, fasting glucose and blood pressure. Socio-demographic data were documented. We analyzed the proportions (95% confidence interval, CI) and the co-occurrence of infectious diseases (malaria, other common diseases), malnutrition (underweight, stunting, iron deficiency, vitamin A deficiency [VAD]), and CRFs (overweight, obesity, impaired fasting glucose, hypertension). In logistic regression, odds ratios (OR) and 95% CIs were calculated for the associations with socio-demographic factors. In this Ghanaian population (age range, 14.4-15.5 years; males, 50%), the proportions were for infectious diseases 45% (95% CI: 38-52%), for malnutrition 50% (43-57%) and for CRFs 16% (11-21%). Infectious diseases and malnutrition frequently co-existed (28%; 21-34%). Specifically, VAD increased the odds of non-malarial infectious diseases 3-fold (95% CI: 1.03, 10.19). Overlap of CRFs with infectious diseases (6%; 2-9%) or with malnutrition (7%; 3-11%) was also present. Male gender and low socio-economic status increased the odds of infectious diseases and malnutrition, respectively. Malarial infection, chronic malnutrition and VAD remain the predominant health problems among these Ghanaian adolescents. Investigating the relationships with evolving CRFs is warranted

In vitro culturing of ciliary respiratory cells—a model for studies of genetic diseases

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare genetic disorder caused by the impaired functioning of ciliated cells. Its diagnosis is based on the analysis of the structure and functioning of cilia present in the respiratory epithelium (RE) of the patient. Abnormalities of cilia caused by hereditary mutations closely resemble and often overlap with defects induced by the environmental factors. As a result, proper diagnosis of PCD is difficult and may require repeated sampling of patients’ tissue, which is not always possible. The culturing of differentiated cells and tissues derived from the human RE seems to be the best way to diagnose PCD, to study genotype–phenotype relations of genes involved in ciliary dysfunction, as well as other aspects related to the functioning of the RE. In this review, different methods of culturing differentiated cells and tissues derived from the human RE, along with their potential and limitations, are summarized. Several considerations with respect to the factors influencing the process of in vitro differentiation (cell-to-cell interactions, medium composition, cell-support substrate) are also discussed

Spatial growth rate of emerging SARS-CoV-2 lineages in England, September 2020-December 2021

This paper uses a robust method of spatial epidemiological analysis to assess the spatial growth rate of multiple lineages of SARS-CoV-2 in the local authority areas of England, September 2020–December 2021. Using the genomic surveillance records of the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, the analysis identifies a substantial (7.6-fold) difference in the average rate of spatial growth of 37 sample lineages, from the slowest (Delta AY.4.3) to the fastest (Omicron BA.1). Spatial growth of the Omicron (B.1.1.529 and BA) variant was found to be 2.81× faster than the Delta (B.1.617.2 and AY) variant and 3.76× faster than the Alpha (B.1.1.7 and Q) variant. In addition to AY.4.2 (a designated variant under investigation, VUI-21OCT-01), three Delta sublineages (AY.43, AY.98 and AY.120) were found to display a statistically faster rate of spatial growth than the parent lineage and would seem to merit further investigation. We suggest that the monitoring of spatial growth rates is a potentially valuable adjunct to outbreak response procedures for emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants in a defined population