Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This is a qualitative data collection. In recent years a range of often debates about have demonstrated the potential for new technologies to become the focus of widespread concern and anxiety. The Strategic Science project considered the social ramifications of new technology through an examination of how their development is shaped by political and policy priorities and by the methods used to support and coordinate research. Focusing particularly on the development of nanotechnology and synthetic biology – two areas of current research and development – the project explored how research in both fields is shaped by research funding programmes and research council initiatives. The research included ethnographic observation of research council initiatives, interviews with research council staff and science policy practitioners and desk-based research. The project found that though government policy and research council strategies have an important influence on the development of research in new fields that this process is not well understood. In addition to the formal targets and policy priorities that structure research practice, the research revealed the wider use a range of more informal techniques for developing research agendas, research communities and definitions in emerging fields. The project also revealed that this informal process is a social and political one that frames the wider goals and ambitions of emerging fields of research. The implications of the project are that the interface between scientific practice and the strategies of research funding bodies are a key site for understanding the broader societal dimensions of new technologies.

The collection consist of 49 qualitative research interview transcripts.