Science policy has been defined by the Royal Society of Biology as “the combination of scientific expertise with knowledge and understanding of government and policy making, decision making and scrutiny processes to ensure that legislation and policy have a sound evidence base” (Royal Society of Biology, 2017). This definition identifies the broad spectrum of topics that are encapsulated under the title of science policy and shows there is almost no limit to the scope that science policy incorporates to some degree. Science policy is undertaken by research councils; policy makers direct a research council to focus on a specific topic and the research council portrays the science in a way that is clear and unbiased for all policy makers. This permits policy makers to make educated decisions on policies in a science setting, which they would otherwise be lacking the knowledge to make.
UK food security was chosen to be the focus of the project, with an aim to investigate potential solutions to increased food demand with increasing population and prospective reasons for concern in the coming years. Food security was defined in 1996 at the World Food Summit as “when all people, at all time, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1996). Food security relies on interplay from several sectors as the UK is not a self-sufficient producer of food, depending heavily on imported food and therefore international relations and economics. The relevance of food security is worldwide, every single person is affected by the availability of food, and therefore would be affected by lack of. Due to increased pressures from climate change and population growth, food production is being limited to gradually less land but more food is needed than ever before. Science is therefore trying to find a way of easing the strain on food production through the implementation of genetic engineering, selective breeding, and alternative food sources.
Current EU policy greatly limits the use of genetic modification in agriculture. Therefore, a major focus of this project was to investigate the future that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could play in bettering food security for the UK, and discuss whether prohibition is the best decision. GMOs are used in many countries already but much, if not all, of this use is limited to herbicide tolerance
and insect resistance in crops. With the potential that genetic engineering holds this seems like a narrow-minded approach to solving food security, as the main beneficiaries are companies such as Monsanto who sell a GM crop and the herbicide to use in tandem.
Genetic engineering can have positive effects on the surrounding world and third parties if used in an intelligent fashion, and could have a lasting effect on food security whilst tackling other problems at the same time. In the near future, it is unlikely that GMOs will be sold for human consumption in the EU on a mass scale. However, as they are used widely for animal feed there is certainly scope to implement some improvements without interruption to the supply chain, and avoiding public backlash. Increased efficiencies in the supply chain of animal feed reduces the cost of raising the animals, which in turn reduces the cost of food for the public. Simple genetic engineering techniques can greatly increase efficiency of production and reduce losses, whilst having less damaging effects than are presently apparent.
The project aimed to discuss the current state of food security and what could be done to improve it for the UK. Science has the potential to play a huge role in improving food security. Throughout each piece of writing in the project this was considered, trying find how just how big an effect science could have. The outcome of the project was learning to convey the topic of food security in the UK to different audiences and for different purposes. Therefore, learning how to effectively communicate a topic with various types of people, each with different interests. A series of five blog posts were produced along with an MBBnote, based on POSTnotes, a formal document summarising all aspects of a scientific topic and how the topic relates to specific policies. The blog series was targeted towards undergraduate MBB students, and the language used was informal and conversational. The MBBnote was targeted to policy makers, the audience was thought to have little to no prior scientific education so technical language could not be used. Alongside this, two oral presentations were given to the other members of the group and a poster was made portraying what had been achieved over the course of the project. The poster was then presented in a conference style meeting at the end of the project to a member of staff, summarising what had been done throughout the course.
Materials and Methods
Literature search engines were regularly used, such as StarPlus, PubMed and Google Scholar to find appropriate academic research into topics chosen. The University of Sheffield library archives were used to find literature specifically relating to science policy, predominantly used in the early weeks of the project to gain an understanding of the scope for topic coverage that science policy encapsulates. On top of this, Google was used to search governmental institutions’ reports on food security as well as finding news bulletins and magazine articles focusing on the topic of food security. Each piece of writing was published on Google Classroom for feedback from other members of the group. Results
Throughout the project different pieces of writing were produced on a weekly basis. Each week every member of the group posted their piece on Google Classroom for feedback from other members. Every member of the group was assigned two pieces of writing on which to give constructive criticism, and aid the writer in developing their skills. Weekly meetings were also held, where online feedback was elaborated on by the group members assigned that piece, and extra feedback from Rebecca was also given.
The blog series needed to entertain and engage the reader. Blogs are read for leisure so need to compete against other sources of entertainment for attention of the reader, so the use of language and topic selection reflected that. Blogs were limited to 500-1000 words to prevent the reader losing interest before finishing each blog post, and so a point was made in a concise manner.
The MBBnote explains complex scientific concepts in layman’s terms to provide a clear explanation without confusing the reader. Different styles of communication were necessary depending on the audience addressed, language had to be used effectively draw in the attention of the audience whilst remaining on topic. Each output aimed to provide a balanced and full discussion of the topic but emphasis was placed on certain areas depending on who was being addressed and their interest in the topic.
The project began with an assignment to find at least 10 different blogs, approximately half had to be science based blogs but the rest focusing different topics, and read several posts from each. The aim was to pinpoint the goal of the blog, critique whether the blog was adapted well for the target audience and find effective techniques used by the writer as well as techniques that did not work well. Writing style also needed to be assessed, in order to find the language used depending on the aim and the audience of the blog. The blogs read were:
Uncertain Principles – physics humour blog
http://scienceblogs.com/principles/
Life Lines – current affairs science blog
http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/
Pharyngula – entertaining biology blog
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/
Sheffield Science in Policy – postgraduate-ran blog reporting on science policy events http://www.sheffieldscienceinpolicy.com/blog
World of Biochemistry – educating and humorous biochemistry blog http://worldofbiochemistry.blogspot.co.uk
Biochem 4 U – informative blog targeted to educated scientists http://biochem4u.blogspot.co.uk
Human Biology Blog – biology news broadcasting blog http://humanbiologyblog.blogspot.co.uk
Mixmag – electronic music blog
http://mixmag.net/blog
Rhett Allain’s Wired Magazine blog – entertaining physics blog https://www.wired.com/author/rhettallain/
A Luxury Travel Blog – travel blog
http://www.aluxurytravelblog.com
Common trends of effective blogs were engaging language such as “we” and “us”, visual aids, and use of humour. Formal-language caused blogs lack relatability and were therefore less appealing to read, and long passages of unbroken text made the blog seem a more daunting task.
Following this a definition of science policy needed to be established, to build an idea of what it encompasses and the demographic that may have an interest in science policy. A literature search using StarPlus gave some titles in Western Bank Library relating to science policy. After some background reading from these titles, a second literature search was conducted with some more in-depth results. Madison used the term “Big Science” to highlight the breadth of topic coverage of science policy (Madison, 2000). It was established that science policy could be described as an evidence network to allow policy makers to perform social problem solving. The Joint Research Centre is an independent research service used by policy makers of the EU to find information and advice regarding potential policies. The purpose is for unbiased research to be conducted so policies can be evaluated in the context of the findings. Within the UK there is the Government Office for Science, an organisation that work alongside other governmental departments to build an evidence base for a strategic approach to policy making.
A guideline of what was included in a POSTnote was also made, a four-page summary of specific topics of interest at the time of writing. This was to construct a basic outline of what needed to be included in the MBBnote, so recent POSTnotes were read; Egg Banks for IVF, Health Tourism, IVF Derived Gametes, Environmental Crime and Integrity in Research. The POSTnotes all followed the same standard format and included defined sections relating the topic to current policy and legislation.
POSTnote source:
UK Parliament Website, Directory of POSTnotes
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/bicameral/post/publications/ postnotes/
Topic Decision
The topic could not be one there had been a recently published POSTnote about. The most recent POSTnote had to be a minimum of 5 years earlier. The Royal Society of Biology and UK parliament websites were searched to find what institutions thought to be the main scientific challenges of the 21st century, along with National Institute of Biosciences, 2016. Three potential topics were chosen from information provided by these sources: Microalgae to Produce Biofuels; Dementia, Alzheimer’s & the Ageing Population; and GMOs, Climate Change & Food Security. GMOs, Climate Change & Food Security was the first-choice topic, but could not directly be chosen due to a recent POSTnote on the topic. A list of upcoming POSTnotes included one titled UK Food Security. Due to being on this list it was proven to be an important topic, and as the list was for upcoming POSTnotes there was not a recent POSTnote published. UK Food Security was therefore chosen to be the topic to base the project on.
Blog Post 1 (Appendix A)
Written as an introductory piece that covered the general topic of UK food security holistically. The Global Food Security website provided inspiration of what posed the largest threats to food security in the UK (Global Food Security, 2016). The threats were compared to those that other countries face for a full spectrum of food security in an international context. To form a basic level of knowledge, food security news was read from sources of different viewpoints (Department for International Development, 2014; Oxfam, 2016). Following this, reading on foot and mouth disease and Ug99 wheat rust was conducted. The foot and mouth outbreak in the UK was the most recent significant threat to food, and Ug99 is tipped to be the biggest threat in the future (Bourn et al., 2002; Simmons, 2012). Combining reading from different sources provided an overview of the topic that was unbiased, and facilitated the writing of an introductory blog post.
Blog Post 2 (Appendix B)
Following feedback a second blog post was written which focused specifically on pathogenic threats to food security past, present and future. Bluetongue virus was chosen as the past threat, colony collapse disorder (CCD) as the present and wheat rust strain Ug99 as future. Ug99 is a fungus that infects wheat and can reduce crops to waste rapidly. CCD is the disappearance of worker bees from their hive. Both Ug99 and CCD are thought more global issues rather than solely UK, but as that still counts as impacting the UK they were thought to be suitable. Bluetongue, a high mortality-rate virus infecting all cattle but has a greater effect on sheep, was researched using Roy and Cox’s papers, and Warmwell (Roy, 2008; Cox, 1954; Warmwell, ?). A literature search on wheat rust was conducted, two papers were found documenting how resistance genes are bred into yeast and the Ug99 strain (Periyannan et al., 2013; Ellis et al., 2014). Finally, CCD was researched, a paper was found studying bee colony loss across Europe, but there could be no conclusions drawn from the study as there was not enough data to make a final decision. Too much time was spent researching before writing the blog, resulting in a somewhat rushed writing process, potentially having a detrimental effect on the quality of the writing. Research took longer because of lack of decision making on the topics to be covered, a schedule for stages of progress throughout each week would have been an asset for time management.
Blog Post 3 (Appendix C)
Discussed potential foods that could ease food security and have increased sustainability. The blog aimed to provoke thought and open-mindedness in the reader, speaking of what may be eaten in years to come and what is already being eaten elsewhere but not in the UK, and thus proven to be a viable food source. Research began with reading of news articles discussing alternative foods of the future.
Articles:
(Winterman, 2012; Gertzman, 2015; Howard, 2015)
Three food sources were chosen to be written about in the blog; insects, lab grown meat and algae. Genetically modified foods were also discussed in most sources, this emphasised the importance of GMOs and with most sources thinking GMOs would be commonplace reading would also be done on this subject. The use of GM crops is controversial, so multiple perspectives were considered to ensure a balanced blog was written. Greenpeace was juxtaposed against Scientific American and AgBioWorld articles.
Articles:
(Greenpeace, 2010; Bonham, 2015; Chen and Tseng, 2006)
All three sources agreed that genetic engineering was not a problem in itself, the implementation of the technique and the traits commonly integrated into organisms were the real issue. Two main traits make up 100% of the whole GM crop market, herbicide and insect tolerance (Brookes and Barfoot, 2014), which are used as moneymaking schemes by agricultural corporations. Further reading was done into potential foods of the future, specifically focusing on alternative protein sources which provided a basis for the section “Not-So-Creepy Crawlies” (Wrap, 2015).
Finally, lab-grown meat was explored. A research paper was found discussing the potential for cultured meat to be more sustainable, and concluded that from the research done cultured meat was far more sustainable environmentally than current production methods (Tuomisto and Mattos, 2010). This method is unlikely to become the norm simply due to the food being perceived as unnatural by many, but was used to demonstrate what was possible and emphasise the point of open-mindedness. An introductory paragraph was written explaining why the named foods could become reality using supply and demand economics, due to previous education on economics. Feedback stated that as genetic engineering is such a large topic having a single paragraph was not enough, the next blog post should include more GMO content too.
Blog Post 4 (Appendix D)
POSTnote 497: Regulation of Synthetic Biology was read in preparation. It contained little information on food but a large amount on genetic engineering, so the Library of Congress was also used to give a greater insight regarding food (Library of Congress, 2015). It was found that legislation differs depending on the nature of the GMO, with each case being assessed individually. These readings were followed with POSTnote 10: Release of GMOs, but provided little insight into the methods of genetic engineering as the target audience have little interest in the mechanism of genetic engineering. Blog post four was a more in depth discussion of the use of GMOs in food, the GM market was researched to find data regarding the prominence of different traits used in GMO agriculture (USDA, 2016). It stated that herbicide tolerant soy was the most widely used GMO agriculturally. Gene guns were also found to be the method of genetic engineering used on GM soybean, which involves bombarding the DNA of the soybean with DNA fragments to insert the gene of choice (Homrich et al., 2012).
Blog Post 5 (Appendix E)Research started with Kantar Worldpanel, a market research organisation, focusing on UK consumer habits with food buying and diet. Having many statistics made this a preferable place to start. Kantar stated that 4 million people were diabetic in 2013 whilst only 1 million people being vegetarian (Kantar Worldpanel, 2013), prompting further research into the cause of this. The Food Statistics Pocketbook 2015 was referred to again for further statistics, notably the percentage change in food purchases 2007-2014 in low income households. Blog post five aimed to provide insight into diet trends and rifts between societal classes reflected in food. Therefore, many statistics were needed to find a trend in eating patterns. It was also found that from 1999-2013, proportion of vegetarian diets were increasing but the purchase of meat alternatives had remained almost constant (DEFRA, 2015). Further research was done into diabetes, finding 90% of diabetics are type II which had a large correlation with obesity (Diabetes.co.uk, 2017). The cost of such diets was then researched further, as there was sure to be a financial strain on the NHS if diets were causing diabetes. In 2006/2007 it was estimated that the cost of diets causing health problems was £5.1 billion (Scarborough et al., 2011).
For contrast to eating habits of lower income households, eating habits of middle class citizens were also researched. An infographic found much earlier in the project contained a detailed breakdown of the diversity of takeaways and restaurants in London (The Food People, 2014). This diversity was known to come at a cost, and was supported by two articles (May, 2016; Blythman, 2016).
Finally, to provide more evidence that money was a factor controlling health of diets, a graph comparing average fruit and vegetable portions daily by region of the UK was juxtaposed with a table showing gross disposable household income (GDHI) by region of the UK. The comparison suggested that regions with lower GDHI ate less fruit and vegetables per day, conclusive evidence could not be drawn but there was a definite trend. This was later made into a graph (Fig. 1) plotting GDHI against average daily fruit and vegetable portions a day and used in both the poster and the second oral presentation. Data for the graph came from DEFRA, 2015 and the Office of National Statistics.
Oral Presentation 1 (Appendix F)
The presentation was an overview of the topic, formally introducing the ideas to the rest of the group for the first time. It was presented to the group between blog posts two and three. As this was still early in the project there were few conclusions that could be drawn at the time. Using reading done previously throughout the project, and blog post one and two, key themes of the project were identified. The themes identified were biosecurity, society, politics and sustainability. Information collected throughout the course of the project up until this point was collated and presented under these themes. Finding themes also allowed for a plan of the next blog posts to be made, a single topic was allocated to the next three blog posts, ensuring broad topic coverage and efficient use of time when researching. The topics were split into focal points, highlighting the main arguments in each topic, and with reading of previously used sources the arguments were elaborated on and built into the presentation as a point for discussion. This gave a framework for blog posts to be structured upon and the arguments used in the presentation could be elaborated on for use in the blog posts.
MBBnote (Appendix G)
Using the most recent POSTnote as a template, food security was split up into headings and subheadings to build a template and clearly separate areas for research. The most recent POSTnote was based on a completely different topic. It was purposefully chosen to prevent plagiarism of already published work on the same subject whilst still providing a representation of the format. A list of what were considered the major topics in UK food security was made, which went on to form the “Overview” box. A Statistic was taken from the NHS website to show the relevance of UK food security as a topic for discussion (NHS Choices, 2017).
Each subheading was expanded into bullet points of what would be included under it, but little else was written as the week was used to plan and format the overall layout and organisation of topics. Several useful references had already been found in previous weeks but none were used at this point. Lack of formally written text led to reduced amounts of feedback from markers compared to other weeks. However, feedback did point out that exclusion of POSTnotes deliberately due to topic may result in key points could be missed.
The bullet points in the overview were later expanded on, whilst also removing some that no longer seemed necessary. Originally it was thought that the overview should include a section on each heading, but published POSTnotes did not have this so the overview was downsized. Box 2 was added, discussing possible methods for genetic engineering. Reading had been done the previous week for blog post four so the methods were already known. The explanations were kept short and simple as the reader was assumed to have little knowledge or interest in details of the mechanism. A case study box of the implementation of golden rice was changed to Flavr Savr tomatoes, as golden rice was deemed not directly appropriate for the UK as there is no vitamin D deficiency. Flavr Savr tomatoes have a longer shelf life, and are therefore more appropriate in the context of the UK as food waste is an issue in the UK. This box was later removed as the POSTnote was over the four-page limit. Use of food banks was then investigated using the Trussell Trust website to find food bank use statistics (The Trussell Trust, 2016).
Previous feedback identified the “Threat” section as only including pathogens, but weeds account for the biggest yield loss so should have been mentioned. A paper was found confirming this, explaining that herbicides would therefore be the highest used crop loss prevention (Oerke, 2006). Economic threats and regulatory threats to food security were then included under threats too, to give a holistic view of threats rather than focusing on solely pathogens. POSTnote 497 was again referred to for current regulation of GMOs in the UK, and used as a reference for a detailed explanation of the regulations should a reader want to read further into the topic. The relationship between food and price was discussed and a report found was used for reference and statistics on this subject (DEFRA, 2015).
Although food security has been approached from solely a scientific perspective in this project, it is not an issue that can be solved purely through scientific means. Just an increase in the supply of food will not solve inequalities regarding food distribution and availability. It requires changes in regulatory mechanisms to achieve total food security. Food poverty is still rife in the UK even if the food supply is robust enough to provide food to the population at its current size. Increasing the rate of supply, production and robustness of the supply chain is necessary to prepare for increases in demand, but policies and attitudes need to change to ensure food security for all in the future.
Discussion
The aim of the blog series by the end was to provoke thought and an open-minded perspective regarding food and solutions to food security. To start the blog lacked specific targets for each post in the series, and had regular grammatical errors due to word order, but as there was no misspelling this was not flagged when typing. Much more rigorous proof reading needed to be done at the start of the project. There is clear progression between the blogs across the course of the project, especially when concerning writing style and choice of tone.
Progression of writing is clearly visible when comparing blog post one with blog post five. In the first post sentences often run on too long, broken up with commas rather than full stops. There is also a lack of target the blog is trying to achieve in the earlier posts, there is an aim to discuss a topic but often is lacking consistency in its message to the reader. The first blog post reads very formally, even “essay-like” as stated in feedback. No visual aids were used to illustrate points or break up text. Use of directly engaging words such as “us” and “we” is minimal, if existent at all. These aspects combined results in the blog lacking relatability with the reader, and lessens the overall effect. The first post largely lacked direction which had a knock-on effect on the writing style and presentation of the piece, and the end result was weak. Feedback also pointed out that sentence length was monotonous and boring, so whilst the topics chosen may have been interesting there was nothing interesting about the text as it was read.
Contrasting this with the final blog post, immediately the audience is engaged with the use of “we’re”. The tone is much more conversational and chatty, more like a friend talking than a colleague. Heading are used to split the text up into visible sections letting the reader know when the topic changes, and include puns to inject humour into the blog and lighten the mood. Numerous images and diagrams are used, illustrating the point being made in the text. There is a clear target that the blog is trying to achieve and it does-so well, emphasising the difference between diets of social classes. Sentence length varies, wording is much more eloquent and sections flow much better. Topics chosen attract attention and are very applicable to the target audience. They require little effort from the reader to carry on as due to being presented in a much more story-like and entertaining manner. There are references to popular culture, and by weighing in with an opinion rather than solely some statistics the reader becomes more absorbed into the writing. The blog is not flawless, the table and chart comparing GDHI and fruit and vegetable portions are difficult to interpret when side by side. The connection between paragraphs and the project topic are sometimes tenuous; the second paragraph under “Money Talks” ends with “a healthy nation is a food secure nation” as an attempt to try and tie in the paragraph with the project, but only succeeding in an awkward and slightly farfetched link. With that being said, the final post is well on the way to being a strong piece of writing, and portrays its message well.
A common theme of feedback was word-order issues, often passages were made more complex than they needed to be simply through choice of wording. More rigorous proofreading, along with second opinions on the text, would have greatly reduced the number of errors of this type. Referencing style was inconsistent throughout the series of blogs, and sometimes lacking altogether. Inconsistency makes the blog seem less professional, a better choice would have been to choose a style in the first post and stick with it throughout rather than chopping and changing. To improve the approach to each blog, a clear target should have been set every week for how the blog should make the reader feel, in the earlier stages the posts seemed confused and if provided with direction when written they could have been much more effective. Sometimes the posts over-ran the 1000-word limit, however this was not noticed when feedback was being given which suggests the posts were still a comfortable length to be read without being laborious.
Early feedback indicated that the tone was inconsistent in the writing, the second blog post was especially culprit to this before being updated. One comment said “The tone of your introduction is quite positive, which would maybe detract from the overall threat of the diseases you’re talking about”. It was suggested that in a piece of writing aiming to instil fear, the initial tone should be one more sinister and towards the end the tone should change to a more optimistic one. After receiving this advice, the tone was altered to suit the mood that was aiming to be set and reads much more fluidly. This was also implemented in subsequent posts to control and guide the reader’s thoughts in the direction intended so the message would be received in the correct manner.
When the later blogs are compared to the blog survey done in week one of the project, they incorporate many of the features identified of successful blogs. The tone is informal, approachable, and language engaging. The text is effectively split up into manageable sections. Although the earlier blogs lacked many of these features, it is clear that progress was made and writing style developed into one full of personality and character. The project provided an education in how to portray language in an influential manner and cater material of the same topic to audiences of different interests and backgrounds.
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