The Nurse review: where is the vision for public involvement?

The signs are clear in this document: the public is not going to be allowed much of a role in defining the public good

The eagerly awaited Nurse Review of UK Research Councils has just landed. It arrives at a critical juncture, as decisions are made about overall UK public sector research funding and about the status and role of the institutions that will be responsible for spending the allocated budget. In that context it is to be expected that the review focuses on the nature, importance and impact of research, and on high-level adjustments to the current system. The broad, integrating thrust of those proposed administrative and governance changes is politically timely.

As the review clearly states, research delivers for society, both in terms of knowledge that adds to our culture and in underpinning innovations that can improve our quality of life and contribute to economic growth. In this societal context the recommendations call for 'an effective dialogue and understanding between researchers, politicians and the public', and the very last recommendation reads: 'Society and its elected representatives should be engaged in high-level questions about the overall direction of science and research, such as top-level allocation of resources, or in respect of needs that society might like to see addressed by research'. Taken in conjunction with the statement in the review that a successful research endeavour requires: 'a compact that bonds science and society', I looked avidly in the rest of the review for some pointers as to what this all might imply.