The Public Engagement Laboratory for Nature and Society experiments with new ways of mapping, practicing, learning about, and responding to diverse public engagements with nature and biodiversity, within Natural England and its networks in the UK and internationally.
Public Engagement Laboratory is a partnership between researchers in the 3S Research Group and Natural England – the UK government’s agency for the natural environment in England. The Laboratory is a distributed and networked entity that is run by a core team involving staff from both organisations.
The Laboratory is pioneering a new approach to the challenges of public engagement with nature and biodiversity through translating approaches of the 3S Research Group and the UKERC Public Engagement Observatory into the Natural England context. It is one of the first examples of translating and embedding novel social science approaches to remaking participation within an organisational and policy setting over time and in practice.
The Public Engagement Laboratory has four key aims:
- To map diverse forms of public engagement with nature and biodiversity on an ongoing basis and make this evidence openly available.
- To experiment with novel approaches to public engagement with nature and biodiversity and translate them into practice.
- To transform learning and evaluation through new ways of seeing, connecting, and reflecting on public engagement.
- To enhance the responsiveness of governance processes to diverse public engagements with nature and biodiversity.
These aims are addressed through four interrelating functions of the Laboratory as shown below.
Further information about the work of the Laboratory and its functions is provided in this briefing. The initial work of the Lab undertook the first study to map the diverse ways that publics are engaging with nature and biodiversity in the UK. Building on this dataset, the Laboratory and its functions are being taken forward through a series of collaborative experiments with Natural England.
Key publications and further information
Press release – UEA and Natural England form a new partnership to improve public engagement with nature.
Chilvers, J., Hinds, P., Honeybun-Arnolda, E. & Lawson, C. (2024) A Public Engagement Laboratory for Nature and Society. Norwich: 3S Research Group & Natural England.
Chilvers, J., Honeybun-Arnolda, E., Hinds, P. & Pallett, H. (2024) Mapping Diverse Public Engagements with Nature and Biodiversity. Norwich: 3S Research Group & Natural England.
