All POST research is conducted
in-house by either its permanent staff or by one of its doctoral/post-doctoral
fellows. These fellowships are a distinctive feature of POST. They are funded
by many UK charitable scientific foundations, by learned societies, by most of
the UK’s Research Councils and by individual universities. Through them,
fellows spend usually three months at POST, working on one of its well-known »POSTnotes«
or assisting a parliamentary committee. Well over 100 such fellows have now
been at POST.
POST’s work lies heavily in the area
of »expert analysis« conducted by the staff and fellows but augmented by an
intense dialogue with outside individuals and organisations with a relevance to
the subject area.
POST has, however, pioneered various
methods of public engagement in the UK. It co-sponsored the first and second UK
national »consensus conferences« – on genetically modified foods and
radioactive waste management. A particular development was POST’s first-time
use of online consultations at the UK Parliament, developed in partnership with
committees during the course of an inquiry. POST has also organised public
consultation meetings held in the constituency of a Commons Board member.
In
2007, the House of Commons Public Administration Committee recommended that
POST should spearhead at the UK Parliament a greater focus on longer term
issues. In many ways such a focus has always permeated POST’s work, but, in
responding to the committee’s welcome recommendation, POST has put additional
effort into this area, often in collaboration with the UK government’s
Foresight and Horizon Scanning units.
Chapter Work Procedures and Methods - all countries
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