Agenda development

The extent to which research priorities should be established by researchers or respond to public concerns is a live theoretical issue which affects not simply research directions but also the relationship between science and society and related issues of trust. These in turn may have a significant impact on whether the application of specific research findings is socially achievable. At a different level, the perceived experience of sufferers of a particular disease or of people living in the environment which is to be researched may offer vital background information to support and frame both scientific enquiry and, even more essentially, strategies for the effective implementation of results.