Public Dialogues in the making
The workshop in preparation for ORION Public Dialogues took place on 22 February at the Babraham Institute. The workshop sought to train ORION consortium members in participative approaches to make the organisations more transparent and aligned to the values, needs and expectations of society.
There were 15 delegates from all ORION partner institutions participating in the event in Cambridge. Workshop speakers included Simon Burall from Involve/ScienceWise (UK), who spoke about the purpose of Public Dialogue and the steps to follow for engagement activities.
Katherine Gray from Alzheimer’s Society (UK) explained the role of Patient and Public Involvement in Alzheimer Society’s research funding strategy. Lastly, Patrick Middleton from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), shared commonalities of past BBSRC supported public dialogues on Synthetic Biology, Bioenergy and Food, Nutrition and Health.
Follow up actions are to prepare a plan for the EU-wide dialogue on engagement on disruptive technology, which the Babraham Institute will lead.