As part of our commitment to transparency and openness Sciencewise is opening up its thinking to outside influence. We are looking for proposals from individuals, organisations, researchers and practitioners from all sectors for new, innovative work which they could undertake and that will add to thinking on public dialogue in policy-making involving science and technology.

What we are looking for

In the spirit of open policy-making Sciencewise wants to commission innovative thinking which will help Sciencewise to achieve its objective to: “improve policy-making involving science and technology across Government by increasing the effectiveness with which public dialogue is used, and encouraging its wider use where appropriate”

Our aim is to help policy makers to better understand how their context is changing and/or move the field of public dialogue forward. For the ideas selected by our panel we will commission the selected organisation or individual to carry out work worth up-to £5,000 + VAT.

What we will fund

We want to cast our net broadly in making this call. The ideas suggested do not need to specifically relate to public dialogue (see our guiding principles for definitions of what public dialogue is), but applicants must show how the work will support a better understanding of the value of public dialogue by policy makers, either directly or indirectly.

We are not prescriptive about the format of the ideas and the associated package of work. We are open to finding activities such as:

  • Development of thinking leading to printed publications
  • Series of blog posts to engage a particular community of practitioners and policy makers in debate
  • Face to face events
  • Webinars
  • Content for the Sciencewise website which will help to build knowledge, understanding of good practice and stimulate debate
  • Or a combination of the above

We encourage creative thinking and collaboration in responding to this call.

Application process, Budget and Selection

Ideas should be submitted as a word document (no more than 5 pages) by email by 1700 on 12 August 2013 to Edward Andersson (edward.andersson@sciencewise-erc.org.uk).

We will commission work worth up to £5,000 +VAT for each piece that gets selected. Our aspiration is to select between one and three ideas of those submitted. However Sciencewise reserves the right to commission one, none or more ideas that are submitted, based on the quality of proposals and the scores given by the selection panel.

The ideas will be reviewed by a selection panel, details of the panel will be published on the Sciencewise website during July. Each idea will be reviewed and scored by each panel member individually against the following criteria:

  • Relevance of proposed idea to public dialogue
  • Value for money
  • New thinking
  • Ability to deliver

The ideas will be scored by each individual panel member. The panel members will convene and will review the assessment of the ideas leading to the decision on the work to commission.

Timetable

The timetable for the selection of the ideas to be commissioned is shown below. Whilst Sciencewise will endeavour to meet these scheduled dates, it may be subject to change.

  • 16 July – Call for ideas published
  • 12 August – Deadline for submissions of ideas. Ideas submitted after 1700 on 12 August 2013 may not be considered by the selection panel.
  • 23 August – Panel makes their decision
  • 26 – 28 August – Sciencewise informs applicants of outcome
  • 28 August – Sciencewise initiates negotiations with successful organisation(s) or individual(s) to agree programme(s) of work.
  • 9 September – Supported work announced on Sciencewise website.

Further Information

Further information can be found in this document. If you would like to discuss the selection process and what Sciencewise is looking for in advance of submission, please contact Edward Andersson, Dialogue Manager – Sciencewise (edward.andersson@sciencewise-erc.org.uk).