Company news...
08 February 2011
It is with some regret that we are announcing that People Science & Policy Ltd will cease trading later this year.
We have made this decision in the light of the large-scale reductions in public sector commissioning of research and evaluation. Just as eleven years ago we thought that there was a niche that a smaller company could exploit, we now feel that the niche is closing. We have decided therefore that closing down while the company remains financially healthy will allow us to close down through a managed process over the next few months, giving all staff time to look for new opportunities.
At the moment you can still contact all staff via their existing telephone numbers and e-mails and when plans become finalised we will issue new contact details for all members of staff. The PSP website www.peoplescienceandpolicy.com will remain as an archive of our work until the end of December 2012 and you will be able to contact Mark and Suzanne via the website until then.
In the meantime we would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last 11 years and invite you to have a look at some of the highlights of PSP’s work.
Mark Dyball and Suzanne King
Directors
2010
02 December 2010
This autumn's People and Science magazine published by the British Science Association has an article by Mark Dyball (one of our directors) and Professor Alan Thorpe (Chair of Research Councils UK) on the Beacons for Public Engagement initiative – a £9 million project that was developed using research PSP undertook in 2005.
01 November 2010
PSP was invited to contribute to the celebration of 21 years of the Y-Touring Theatre Company with an article on evaluation. Our article is now available to read online from Y-Touring’s Theatre of Debate Website.
28 September 2010
It examines how externally commissioned research has been used by DWP in key areas of departmental policy development. While generally positive, the report recommended some changes, a number of which are being adopted by the department. For the report please click here.
07 September 2010
In August 2009, People Science & Policy Ltd (PSP) was commissioned by Research Councils UK (RCUK) working with Universities UK (UUK) to support the Research Integrity Futures Working Group in its review of the current UK arrangements for the oversight of good research conduct and research integrity. The Working Group’s report has now been published and PSP’s report is available here.
02 July 2010
PSP is working with the Institute of Physics (IOP) to evaluate the impact of a pilot STEM enhancement and enrichment programme aimed at getting more young people from Black and ethnic minority groups to study physics at ‘A’ level and beyond. The project is based in a south London school and PSP is designing the evaluation and will be analysing the findings.
28 June 2010
Tara Webster, Project Manager, has been awarded her Diploma in Plain English. The cornerstone of her final assessment was a guide for PSP on questionnaire writing, the collation of a bank of validated questions and an up-dating of the section in the company manual on designing, launch and managing on-line surveys. She was awarded a grade ‘A’ for this assignment.
18 June 2010
PSP celebrated 10 years in business on Thursday 17 June at the Wellington Arch with some 50 or so clients and friends.
01 June 2010
Suzanne King has joined the editorial committee of People and Science, the magazine of the British Science Association.
2009
In the last year our public engagement work has included a public dialogue on synthetic biology for the Royal Academy of Engineering and securing a place on the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s public engagement framework. We’ve also evaluated dialogue activities, looking at the impact of EPSRC’s public dialogue to support the Grand Challenge on Nanotechnology for Health and securing a place on the COI’s (Central Office of Information) evaluation of public dialogue roster.
We have been contracted to undertake quite a lot of programme evaluation by a variety of organisations, including the Royal Society, the British Academy, the research councils and the Wellcome Trust.
Our strategy and policy work has included commissions to support the Working Group looking at Research Integrity in the UK and the development of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Science and Society strategy.
The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera, part of Defra) has commissioned PSP to undertake research with beekeepers – especially amateur keepers.