The UK Space Weather Public Dialogue

Space weather is a set of phenomena that are now recognised as a significant natural hazard, with the potential to disrupt many of the technologies that are critical to the functioning of modern societies. The UK Space Weather Public Dialogue aims to involve members of the public to help answer some key questions:

• What is the best way to communicate with people about space weather and its potential impacts?
• How might we prepare for such an event?
• Who does what if such an event happens?
• What do we prioritise?

What are we doing?

We are seeking views from the wider public through this website. We are also running regional workshops to give members of the public an opportunity to discuss space weather with people from academia, government and industry. These workshops are by invitation only to make sure we talk with a representative sample of people. Later in the project we will also run a survey with a randomly selected representative sample of UK members of the public. We hope that by seeking people’s views in a number of ways, we can start to build a better overall understanding of how members of the public understand the risk of space weather, how they might respond to this risk, and how the feel about the allocation of responsibility for action. At the end of the project we will produce a report to summarise everything that has happened and all of the views we have received. This report will be shown to as many interested parties as possible – across government, academia and industry – to help inform their decisions about how we prepare for and respond to a severe space weather event. We will also make the report publicly available and post a link from this website once it is complete. Back to top...

Who’s behind it?

The dialogue is resourced by the following organisations:

• Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) STFC is one of the UK’s seven publicly funded Research Councils responsible for supporting, co-ordinating and promoting research, innovation and skills development in seven distinct fields. STFC is commissioning this public dialogue.
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL Space) RAL Space at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and is STFC's lead department for space weather.
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) NERC is the UK's main agency for funding and managing research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences.
• National Grid National Grid is an international electricity and gas company and one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.
• Lloyd’s Lloyd’s is the world’s specialist insurance market, conducting business in over 200 countries and territories worldwide – and often insuring new, unusual or complex risks.
• Sciencewise Sciencewise is the UK’s national centre for public dialogue in policy making involving science and technology issues. It provides co-funding and specialist advice and support to Government departments and agencies to develop and commission public dialogue activities in emerging areas of science and technology.

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Who’s delivering it?

The process is designed and delivered by 3KQ and Collingwood Environmental Planning with a little help from our friends at Ipsos MORI and Pure Communication. Back to top...