Government and science policy - taking science to parliament
Engaging with politicians and policy makers is an important way of raising awareness and eliciting positive views of your scientific field at the highest level of decision-making. The SET for Europe programme provides 50 young postdoctoral researchers and fellows with the opportunity to present and discuss their science at the Houses of Parliament, with MPs and peers each year.
Heidi De Wet, a research fellow within the Wellcome-funded OXION programme, participated in the programme, and feels her experience was very positive on a number of levels. Heidi says: "Of course it was good to explain to MPs the need for our research and more research funding overall, but one of the biggest things was meeting other researchers from several disciplines. I've made a lot of contacts and the start of some collaborations."
The SET for Europe programme includes a poster presentation within the lobbies of Parliament. Heidi maximised her impact by creating a poster with minimal text and one large image of the ion channel that she was studying. The image not only caught the attention of the MPs, but also allowed them to grasp immediately the idea of targeting ion-channels with drugs of a specific molecular shape.
Having engaged her audience's imagination, Heidi then used copies of a recent review outlining the efficacy of sulphonylurea compounds in diabetes, a major focus and output of OXION and similar research groups. This allowed her to take the politicians very quickly from the science and ideas behind her research through to the real-world application of this knowledge: "Their main concern was how expensive R&D was. It was great to be able to explain not only the costs involved, but to demonstrate its positive impact on people's lives - I think they went away with a higher opinion of what biomedical research can do."
Many of the MPs and peers she spoke with had either personal or professional interests in the treatment of diabetes, and asked for further information and leads. As Heidi's experience shows, engaging with politicians like this can help raise awareness of your research field and generate a more positive view among those in power.
Find out how you can get involved with Government and science policy.