Team:Edinburgh/Human Practices/Perceptions-of-the-Public

Perceptions of the Public

There is a huge amount of information about how the public feel about science, but how do scientists feel about the public? How does this shape their research in synthetic biology?

We interviewed scientists working in synthetic biology about their perceptions of the public. We hoped to gain an insight into how scientists approach public engagement and how public opinion informs their work. The interviews were assembled into a sound piece where different thoughts and opinions overlap and sit alongside each other.

Here is a sample of the file:

If you cannot open the .mp3 file, please, try opening the page using Chrome.

The whole piece with the interviews can be downloaded from here.

The sound piece was presented in the lift of the building our team works in so that people could hear small amounts of the interviews while travelling between floors.

Some of the things we talked about:

What do you think of when you hear the term “the public”?

Do you see yourself as a member of the public?

What do you think public engagement means?

Have you had any experience with public engagement? (Can you describe what happened? How did you feel about it?

What worked well and what would you change anything the next time you are involved with the public? Did you face any challenges? (What do you think would have helped with some of the challenges you faced?

Have you had any experience working on interdisciplinary projects? Can you describe what it's like to work with somebody with no scientific background?

Do you think public engagement is important? (Why?)

Do you ever feel that you need to justify the value of the work you do to the public?

What do you think of how the media covers synthetic biology? Could you give an example? Does it influence the way you engage with the public?

Should public opinion of science (and synthetic biology) matter?

Do you think public engagement is important to the work you do specifically? (Why?)