Getting Science to the Citizen – ‘Food Addiction’ at the British Science Festival as a Case Study of Interactive Public Engagement with High Profile Scientific Controversy

As the pace of advance in biomedical science continues to quicken, it is increasingly important for scientists to engage directly with the public, and indeed many funding bodies are beginning to require their funded researchers to participate in public engagement activities. In the UK, the concept of engaging the public with science was largely initiated by the publication of ‘Science and Society’ by the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology in 2000. This publication changed the science communication landscape from one in which the public were viewed as deficient in knowledge and understanding of science, to one in which scientists and members of the community were to be regarded as on equal terms in a dialogue and two-way exchange of knowledge and ideas. The support for public engagement programmes, or science in society, in the UK continues to grow and be recognised, and has acted as a model for many other countries in Europe because of the involvement of such institutions as the British Science Association ( www.britishscienceassociation.org ) which was founded in 1831 and is a charity which ‘exists to advance the public understanding, accessibility and accountability of the sciences and engineering in the UK’, and the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement ( www.publicengagement.ac.uk ). Both these web sites contain extensive practical ‘how to’ resources and background and history to the development of science in society in the UK. Successful communication of science can take many forms, depending on situation and interest group, and detailed discussions of engagement Received: December 13, 2012 Accepted: January 8, 2013 Published online: March 6, 2013