Society Awards: Research summaries 2007

Open call

Dr Monica Bonaccorso
University of Cambridge
With the 'public' in mind: ethnographic investigations of medical science and the media in Kenya
£190 700

'With the Public in Mind' investigates the role that the transnational and national media (science journalism) play in Kenya in informing and engaging indigenous communities on science and related health issues, particularly with reference to HIV/AIDS and malaria clinical trials, and large research programmes. It explores how the media are perceived and used by scientists disseminating research findings on HIV/AIDS and malaria. Similarly, how various media are perceived and used by health development NGOs to engage indigenous communities. The project explores whether the 'non-linearity' of the relationship between communication models and public engagement (as emerged from research in the UK and elsewhere) applies to the African context too.

Theme: How attitudes are formed and changed in relation to biomedical science

Dr Courtney Davis
University of Sussex
Mapping the influence of patient groups' attitudes towards the scientific regulation of and access to new anti-cancer drugs in the US, the UK and the EU
£161 469

Through an in-depth, international comparative study of 13 cancer patient organizations in the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) this research seeks to develop a social scientific understanding of the influences on patient organizations' attitudes towards the scientific regulation of new cancer therapies and their response to various proposals to speed patient access to treatment through the acceleration (or by-passing) of specific stages of drug testing and/or regulatory review. The study would seek to understand how attitudes towards, and modes of engagement with this aspect of biomedical science have formed and changed over time.

Dr Rachel Iredale
University of Glamorgan
Genetic literacy and family history: a study of young people in the South Wales valleys
£129 030

This study explores the influences on young people's attitudes to genetics, how these attitudes are formed, how they are located in particular communities and how they change over time. It is a qualitative study with fifteen young people aged 16-18, based at the Science Shop in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. Each year for three years participants will be interviewed individually and will also take part in a focus group. The purpose of the focus group will be to map out a genetics activity, broadly outlined from the outset, but the exact nature of which will be determined by the young people themselves. These activities will be carried out on a one-to-one basis with the assistance of the project team and collaborators and include constructing family trees, compiling genetic diaries, and producing photo/film biographies using mixed media.

Dr Julie Barnett
University of Surrey
Attitudes to biomedical science: social trust, affect and deliberation
£30 000

This programme of research will explore the ways in which the impacts of social trust, affect, deliberative engagement and risk perception are different for different applications of biomedical science. It will consider people's acceptance of biomedical science applications as well as their willingness to participate in biomedical research. The literature increasingly suggests that despite trust and engagement being routinely cited as vital in gaining public acceptance and cooperation around risk related issues, if this is to be effectively achieved, a much more fine grained analysis of the way that these processes interact is needed.