The Committee on the Public Understanding of Science or Copus was founded in 1985 by the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

(BAAS), the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Copus came about as a result of the 'Bodmer Report' by the eminent geneticist

Walter Bodmer Sir Walter Fred Bodmer (born 10 January 1936) is a German-born British human geneticist. Early life Bodmer was born in Frankfurt, Germany. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and went on to study the Mathematical Tripos at the Univ ...

. The aim of Copus was to interpret scientific advances and make them more accessible to non-scientists. It played a part in developing the

public understanding of science ''Public Understanding of Science'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1992 and published by SAGE Publications. It covers topics in the popular perception of science, the role of science in society, philosophy of scienc ...

it establishing standards for communicating science and technology The Copus Grant Schemes was set up in 1987 and the last round of grants was for 2003/4. The scheme was funded by the Office of Science and Technology and the

. 25 grants worth a total of over £750,000 were awarded in 2003/2004. In 2000 The new Copus Council was formed to be a more inclusive partnership for science communication in the UK. In 2002 following a report commissioned by the Office of Science and Technology the Copus Council was discontinued.

References

Royal Institution Royal Society Science in society Science communication Science education in the United Kingdom Scientific organisations based in the United Kingdom 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom Scientific organizations established in 1985 {{sci-org-stub