Mark Dyball
I believe that effective policy-making requires a broad evidence base. It is becoming increasingly widely recognised that public voices can add to this base. Bringing these voices into science policy debates was a motivating factor behind the launch of PSP.
At PSP I have taken a central role in developing our evaluation work. This has developed from modest beginnings looking at the impact of small science communication programmes to become an important facet of our work that includes evaluation of research programmes and funding mechanisms, educational initiatives and development of good practice, in addition to continuing our work with science in society activities.
I am an experienced qualitative researcher, with considerable experience of interviewing senior managers and other leading figures in UK science and Government. In addition, I have extensive experience of managing the interface between national policy and local, regional and national delivery. As company secretary, I take day-to-day responsibility for the financial management of the company.
Between graduating in Materials Science from the University of Bath in 1986 and co-founding PSP my career was spent in the UK’s Scientific Civil Service. Originally a research scientist, I moved to the Department of Trade and Industry, initially focusing on regional project and programme management. A move to the Office of Science and Technology in 1996 saw me take-up a national policy role.
In the OST I managed the Public Understanding of Science, Engineering and Technology programme. During this period (1996–2000) the need for the public to understand science was being supplanted by the importance of science-based organisations understanding the public. The OST played a leading role in driving this shift in policy and I managed some of the key projects of the time. These included the UK Government’s “Public Consultation on Developments in the Biosciences” in 1999 and the quantitative element of the joint OST/Wellcome Trust public attitudes to science project, published in 2000 as “Science and the Public”.