It is time to "speak up for science", says a leading research body today.

Professor John O'Reilly , the chief executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, warns "small vocal minorities can have a disproportionate effect" in fostering an anti-science culture in the UK.

"We have to speak up for science, for its place in the economy and its place in society and so on. We have to, I think, articulate very effectively what flows from science.," he told this website.

The EPSRC believes that in a society increasingly sceptical of expertise, scientists need to be willing to communicate in new ways to get their message across.

"It's a part of science for scientists to talk to one another - that's how science gets done and that's how progress is made, but we also have to talk outwards as well as inwards it seems to me, and I think that's what is being said," he said.

"So scientists have to speak of the science, we have to be willing to communicate our message in a different way."

But O'Reilly does not support an ad-agency style promo campaign for Britain's boffins.

"Promotional Campaign sounds like you go out there beating the drum, lobbying for your cause and so on, but I think it's more subtle than that," he added.

"It's a matter of talking in language that will be received, not talking down but in terms that will be receptive to the listener.

"And that's to society and to politicians who, quite frankly, are mostly not scientists, it's not what they are called to be, they are a cross-section of society.

"We have to be able to relate what we do to that, and we have to convey the importance, the excitement and the relevance of the science and engineering we fund."