Perception of safety - research ideas, opinions needed!

Look how you've phrased it:

Adult cyclists are dying on roads every day, and I feel not enough is being done to address this with regards to cycling awareness, or raising the issue of safety perception amongst adult cyclists. The government have a Bikeability course, which is aimed at children - but there is no accredited national course for adult cyclists.

You go from decrying the KSI stats to encouraging cycle training. In fact you don't mention drivers at all. There is no evidence that cycle training makes cycling safer. There is no evidence that lack of cycle training is even in the top 20 causes of collisions. If novice cyclists were causing collisions you'd reasonably expect Ken bikes to have a higher casualty rate, but in fact it's lower than that suffered by "normal" riders. Illegal or risky behaviour by cyclists is a factor in just 6% of KSI RTCs:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/15/cycling-bike-accidents-study

There are, in short, more important things to focus on.