Wellcome commissioned Public First to create a blueprint on how to achieve the right long-term R&D environment in the UK. Public First conducted an in-depth review of the literature on campaigning and behavioural psychology and analysed 25 high profile campaigns to identify the common elements of successful advocacy. We then directly tested the public’s reaction to these campaign techniques through focus groups and opinion polling – allowing us to pinpoint which approaches would work best. Based on these findings we conducted a series of workshops and interviews with businesses, university and charity leaders in R&D. Our blueprint has been widely praised and adopted by the scientific community and our core recommendations have been taken up by Wellcome and others, and a new advocacy organisation formed.

Please find the full report here: https://wellcome.org/sites/default/files/public-first-advocating-rd-investment.pdf