Ian Pearson - Beacons for Public Engagement launch event

Hello everyone.

Last autumn, I spoke to the Science Council about how to create a society that is excited about science, values its importance, feels confident in its use, and supports a representative, well-qualified scientific workforce.

Shortly after that, in November, the first successful candidates to become Beacons for Public Engagement were announced.

The Beacons are evidence that universities' historic role remains alive and well in this country. For at least the last century and a half, they have been not just isolated islands of scholarly excellence for the few, but also agents for the general betterment of the many in the communities of which they are a part.

The good that so many universities have already done for their communities in economic, social and cultural terms is vast. But there remains much more for them to do.

Their efforts to reach out to ordinary people in the societies around them extend across the whole spectrum of academic activity. And that is entirely right.

But I want to talk today mainly about the contribution they can make to strengthening the relationship between science and society.

In an increasingly technology-driven world, in a world where so many of the issues on which we must all make up our minds - climate change, new sources of energy and foods, the continuing repercussions of the success of the human genome project and the rest - are underpinned by science, the health of that relationship is more important than ever before.

So increasing scientists' capacity to engage with the public is vital.

I believe that there is a growing appetite in society for dialogue about science and the issues that scientific, medical and technological advancements raise.

We need to communicate the importance of science and technology to our everyday lives. And we need to listen to the views of the public about how it impacts on their lives.

When John Denham spoke at The Royal Society of Arts on this subject recently, he said that we need to go further than just improving scientific literacy.

We need to develop a mature relationship between the public, the media, and scientists where everyone understands each other more fully.

I believe the Beacons initiative can and will play an important part in bringing about the closer engagement that we seek.

Bringing scientists and the public together ensures scientific work is relevant to society. It helps the public to have trust in science, and helps scientists to understand where the limits of that trust lie.

By increasing active public engagement with scientists and the issues, we can also enthuse future generations of scientists, engineers and technologists.

Much of the work carried out by higher education institutions has a direct effect on people's lives.

So it is important that people are able to learn about that work in terms they can understand. Only then will they be able to have their say about it in a meaningful way.

Universities must enable that to happen. The Beacons can facilitate this.

I very much want to see a culture shift to recognise the importance of public outreach activity. The Beacons are a good start to that process, and I hope they will give us valuable insights into how public engagement can be further recognised.

So I welcome the Beacons for Public Engagement initiative and look forward to seeing just how much it can achieve.

Challenging the current cultures both of researchers and the general public is not likely to be easy. But it is a necessary step if we're to be able to achieve our full potential as an economically strong, socially cohesive country in the coming years.

We have opened up the process of refreshing our science and society strategy and I thank all those who have so far contributed. We are aiming to publish it in draft during National Science and Engineering Week.

Public engagement with science will be a core theme of our strategy, and the Beacons can help us to deliver it.

Support for the Beacons has come not only from the funders but many others in this community and I hope that this collaborative approach will continue in all that we do. We will then truly have the best chance of creating the Britain of the future - where the public, the research community, government and business come together to create economic and social well-being.

I'd now like to handover to David Eastwood to tell you a bit more about the individual centres.