Abstract
Calls for increased attention to societal impacts in research are now commonplace, but mechanisms for achieving this lag. This paper reports on a pilot of a scalable, low-cost mechanism to help manufacturing and materials science researchers assess and improve the societal impacts of their work. The mechanism, a public values statement, scaffolds researchers in assessing plausible economic, environmental, national security, and other public consequences of their research. More focused than conventional ‘broader impacts’ statements, the public values statement is designed to be integrated into research support, funding, or facilities use applications. The statement preparation and evaluation procedure was piloted at a workshop with manufacturing and materials science researchers. The procedure demonstrated the ability to support these researchers in assessing diverse societal impacts of their work, both positive and negative. Additional scaffolding may be required to help researchers develop plans to amplify positive and mitigate negative consequences of their work.