LIAT at Evidence Week in the Houses of Parliament
3-5 July 2023
The Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) conducts a wide range of interdisciplinary research around various cutting edge technologies relating to the food system. As such we are close to emergent policy thinking and keen to engage with regulators and policy makers to both participate in such discussions and also to learn more about how the process works. Fortunately, the organisation Sense About Science runs an annual event to assist with this process. Sense About Science is a charity that was founded in 2002 by Lord Dick Taverne, former MP for Lincoln, to promote respect for scientific evidence and good science. We first participated in their Evidence Week event in November 2020 during the height of the pandemic where masks were compulsory making communication somewhat challenging.
Evidence Week 2020
Happily this was not the case in 2023 so we accepted the invitation to return to Westminster in July, supported by the Lincoln Policy Hub. This year the week included policy briefings, training sessions and lively discussions organised by Sense about Science and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) and in partnership with the House of Commons Library, the House of Lords Library, Ipsos, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) and universities and research institutions from across the UK, It engaged with over 160 parliamentarians over the course of the week.
LIAT and the data challenge
The key to success at the event was to distil the breadth and depth of academic research down to a message that could be succinctly communicated to policy makers. This then leaves the door open for further information if they have questions. In our case this was that the successful adoption of new technology such as AI, robots, and drones in the food system, requires a secure and dynamic approach to sharing and exchanging data amongst collaborating but otherwise independent entities in the supply chain ecosystem. To achieve this we have developed a conceptual model for a data trust framework against which various solutions can be applied. We have further developed the ideas across a range of projects and reports. We had a succinct story, backed up with further information if required.
Planning for interaction
The next stage, which the Sense About Science team helped with, was to plan for our day in parliament. This commenced a few months before the event to allow time to prepare the messaging and target parliamentarians. Activities included producing a very short video which could be shared on social media and helped refine the brief as discussed previously. This information was then used by the Sense About Science team to identify a selection of parliamentarians who may be worth targeting. For example, those who participate in food related All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) who we thought might be interested. With this spreadsheet as a starting point we then sent short emails to the people in question, and some others who we felt were also worth targeting to see if they were interested in dropping by to talk to us on our designated half-day slot during Evidence Week. In the end we sent 16 invitations, and received 4 bookings which we were very happy about, plus one possible drop in if time permitted. These were: Patrick Grady, Greg Clark, Sir Peter Bottomley, and Daniel Zeichner with Green Party MP Caroline Lucas as a maybe.
Our day in Parliament
The event was planned for the Jubilee Room which is a relatively small room off of the much larger and grander Westminster Hall. On the face of it, this is a small room but that meant that it was cosy and leant itself to informal conversations and enabled the hosts to easily shuffle guests between the various pods where the teams were based.
Daniel Zeichner is the MP for Cambridge and is Labour’s shadow food, farming and fisheries minister with additional responsibilities for agri-tech innovation. An offer to visit LIAT was accepted and arranged shortly after the event. This also included a visit to various fisheries sites in Grimsby which was coordinated with help from colleagues at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing (NCFM)and also the Food Valley Team.
Another conversation was with Patrick Grady SNP MP who was interested in how our data enabling work related to the then forthcoming electronic trade bill. We were able to provide some positive examples of how our ongoing collaboration with Contained.iofollowing the successful Innovate UK-funded Trusted Bytes project was contributing. Fascinatingly, this conversation was mentioned in Hansard, the official record of parliamentary proceedings.
“Last week, I had some fascinating discussions with researchers from the University of Lincoln’s Institute for Agri-Food Technology, who were visiting Parliament as part of the annual evidence week activities. They and the many other businesses and academics they work with were very excited about the opportunities this Bill will provide for data sharing and for analytics about the movement of goods, and the opportunities in particular that that could bring, for example, for the reduction of food waste and the environmental impact across the supply chain. I think I spent slightly longer discussing the Bill with those academics than the Bill spent in its Second Reading Committee…”
UK Parliament, Hansard. Volume 736: debated on Monday 10 July 2023, 7:58pm
The day ended with a reception and a lively panel discussion led by Sense About Science Director Tracey Brown OBE with various parliamentary, academic and other representatives. The discussion focused on the role of evidence in policy decision making and was particularly fascinating was the range of perspectives from scientific to behavioural and hence adding to the complexity of how messages can be understood, relayed, and inherently open to misrepresentation.
After the discussion Steve Brewer managed to speak with Dame Margaret Hodge MP about the differences between think tanks and university research centres. A key reason why policy makers lean on think tanks is their speed of response and their ability to tune message presentation to lawmaker’s needs.
Outcomes and reflections
Overall, the University representatives, Simon Pearson, Mark Bennister and Steve Brewer found the day extremely rewarding. Our invitation to visit LIAT was taken up by Daniel Zeichner, others said that they would try and visit in the future. Seeing things like the fruit-picking robots at Riseholme, the University’s rural campus provides a compelling perspective on the status of new technology for policymakers. The fact that the University is well integrated with our local LEP helps us understand and communicate well with the region’s businesses and farms.
We will certainly be looking to attend again in the future. This engagement with regulators, policy-makers and others will continue to evolve. LIAT benefited from close collaboration with the University of Lincoln’s Policy Hub as: a one-stop-shop for both academics and policymakers. The Hub funded the LIAT pod and supported the engagement throughout. This is an increasingly important role needed within universities to help build bridges that can help drive innovation with cutting edge research.
Further Information:
https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/liat/
https://policyhub.lincoln.ac.uk/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00346-1
Contact Information:
Professor Simon Pearson, Director LIAT
Steve Brewer, research fellow and project leader LIAT
Marie Daniels, Commercial Relationships Manager LIAT
Dr Mark Bennister, Associate Professor of Politics/Director of The Lincoln Policy Hub