Measuring the Impact Values of Public Engagement in Medical Contexts

This article considers the impact values attributed to public engagement with science and technology (PEST) as articulated by a cohort of U.K.-based medical researchers (n = 84) within a partially open-ended survey. Two discrete yet interlinking impact categories emerge-impact of PEST on researchers and the research process and impact of PEST on the public image and reputation of research/researchers. These accounts reveal a limited sentiment among medical researchers for PEST envisaged as "upstream" and leading to public/patient collaboration and suggest that PEST is encouraged more frequently in the promotion and defense of medical science within the public sphere.