Science Policy Report - December 2007
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Quote of the Month
- “Oh yes, and Professor King was right about badgers; those delightful furry creatures will have to be culled, because they are guilty of spreading bovine TB.”
Magnus Linklater considers the headaches in store for John Beddington when he takes over the CSA role from Sir David King (The Times, 12th Dec).
Parliament/Government Departments
- Ian Pearson, the minister of state for science and innovation, has issued a call for comments from stakeholders on developing a new science and innovation strategy for the UK
- The House of Commons Defence Committee concluded that the UK/United States defence trade cooperation treaty could help the UK research and development industry by encouraging American firms to collaborate on British soil
- The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will no longer be in charge of regulating laboratories that use animal pathogens after an independent report concluded it had a conflict of interests
- Merial laboratory’s specified animal pathogens order licence will remain suspended until an inspection team have presented a full report to the government’s acting chief veterinary officer, Jeff Rooker, the minister of state for sustainable food and farming and animal health told the House of Lords on 11th December.
- The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills published updates to its Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees, incorporating guidelines of good practice, monitoring own performance and defining the role of lay members. The updates also outline members’ rights, responsibilities and roles, the correct handling of publications and reports and advice on how to deal with the media
- An article in The Times (12th Dec) reports that John Beddington, the government’s new scientific adviser, has a difficult task ahead of him because science has become “less accessible” to the public and politicians.
Animal Sciences
- Professor Clive Page, Chair of the BSF Animal Science Group (ASG), and Professor Dominic Wells, a member of the ASG, were widely quoted in the press stating that the government has failed to see through promises to cut the red tape associated with animal research (Daily Telegraph; Guardian, 12th Dec)
- Ian Pearson, minister for science and innovation, announced increased funding for research into techniques to replace the use of animals in scientific experiments
- The government plans to award £5 million per year to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research by 2010-11.
Ethics
- David King, the government’s chief scientific adviser, launched an ethical code of conduct for scientists at the British Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual festival in York
- The Royal College of Physicians published its new guidelines for research ethics committees after updating the code for the first time since 1996. The guidelines offer advice for biomedical researchers planning to carry out research involving human participants.
Higher Education & Secondary Education
- The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) welcomed the announcement of an extra £105 million in government funding over three years for workforce education programmes
- HEFCE opened its consultation on the system with which it proposes to replace the research assessment exercise on 22 November to which the BSF will submit a response. The proposed Research Excellence Framework would give greater emphasis to the metric assessment of research quality when allocating funds
- The prestigious Pisa international comparison of performance in science by 15-year olds has seen the UK fall from a top five place in 2000 to a new position of fourteenth (FT, 30th Nov).
Research Councils
- The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills announced the 2008-11 science budget allocations on 11 December, including the amount of money to be spent on four major projects to be conducted by the research councils
- The Government gave its backing to a new medical research centre near St Pancras station in the centre of London. It has agreed to the sale of 1.4 hectares of land for the proposed £500 million UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation.
- The European Commission has said that UK research institutions should have little difficulty in adopting the European Charter for Researchers and the EC code for their recruitment
- The Natural Environment Research Council and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are investing £2.7 million in a European initiative to support biodiversity research.
Commercialisation
- The UK Intellectual Property Office welcomed the European patent law, which comes into affect on 12 December, as a boost for innovation in the UK. The changes make it easier to amend granted patents, and clarify the rules for patenting medical treatments and diagnosis methods.
EU News
- At a meeting of the Competitiveness Council in late November, ministers reached agreement on the EC’s proposal for the European Institute of Technology. The next step is for the EP to formally reach agreement on the EC proposal, during the second reading of the proposal
- The EC recently carried out a study of researchers’ salaries and observed that those in the EU earn less than counterparts in the US, Australia, Japan and India
- The European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture, and Youth, Jan Figel, launched the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). The EQF, which will act as a translation device between different EU qualifications systems, has eight reference levels covering the range from the most basic to the highest level qualifications
- European Science and Research Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, visited Brazil and Chile to demonstrate the EU’s commitment to strengthening science and technology (S&T) links with South America and to building solid research partnerships to combat global challenges.
Health
- The government announced plans to bring academics, health professionals and third sector groups together as part of a major new initiative to address inequalities in cancer care
- The UK Clinical Research Collaboration will launch an integrated application system, IRAS, to simplify the process of applying for approval or permission to conduct a piece of research in the NHS.
Source: The Biosciences Federation.
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