Science Policy Report - September 2007
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Quote of the Month
- “The Home Office is still as far from being an intelligent customer of science as it ever was.”
Sir David King reflects on his achievements as Chief Scientific Adviser (Research Fortnight, 26th September).
Parliament/Government Departments
- The Prime Minister announced that Professor John Beddington, CMG, FRS, will succeed Sir David King as the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office for Science with effect from 1 January 2008. Professor Beddington is currently Professor of Applied Population Biology at Imperial College London. Announcing the appointment the Prime Minister said: “Professor Beddington’s outstanding career in environmental and marine sciences makes him an excellent choice to take on the important role of Government Chief Scientific Adviser. He brings a wealth of experience in the application of science to policy and has a distinguished record as a scientist. I look forward to working with him closely
- Gordon Brown has said that £15 billion of public funding will be invested in medical research over the next ten years
- The Conservative Party’s Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Task Force published its report An Innovative Society: Capturing the Potential of Science and Engineering
- On 5th September the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ruled in favour of research using human-animal hybrid embryos. However, it deferred a decision on more controversial areas of hybrid and chimera research, claiming that there was no * Gareth Thomas, the parliamentary under-secretary for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, told the House of Commons on 10th Sept that unspent funds from the Research Council were only used to meet a shortfall in non-science areas when all other options had been exhausted.
Science Base
- In an comment piece to the Financial Times (26th Sept) researcher Michael Schrage said that scientists can only really influence policymakers if they make their work more accessible
- Prospect, the scientists’ union, criticised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the wake of the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease, arguing that the Pirbright site and other research facilities have been put at risk by funding cuts
- In a speech made to the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival of Science, the Labour peer and fertility researcher Robert Winston warned that British science projects are being hampered by the Home Office’s cautious approach to animal research.
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 told the vice-chancellors and principles of the UK’s higher education institutions that their input will be crucial during a new evaluation of third stream funding.
Research Councils
- The Environment Research Funders Forum published a report on the distribution of public funds across different areas of environmental research. It shows that gaps have emerged in several important areas, including research into the environmental aspects of human health and flooding and flood defences. ERFF found that its members spent more than £260 million in direct costs on nearly 6,000 environmental research projects between 2004 and 2005.
Commercialisation
- The business-led Technology Strategy Board was launched as an independent executive non-departmental public body, with a £190 million budget this year.
- The Board is sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and is overseen by a board of business leaders
- The UK remains an attractive place for companies to invest in R&D, according to figures released by UK Trade and Investment on 4 July. The UK won a record 1,431 investment projects from overseas companies in 2006-07
- A government report found that links between higher education and business are proving increasingly fruitful.
EU News
- The Biosciences Federation published its response to the European Research Area (ERA) green paper
- Over two thirds of MEPs signed a declaration calling for a cessation to scientific experimentation on great apes and non-human primates in Europe
- The European Parliament backs the Commission’s proposal to set up a European Institute of Technology in its first-reading report adopted on 26th September by a large majority
- The EC has recently published three new reports looking at European research performance in the face of globalisation and the future of important research actors in the European Research Area (ERA).
Health
- A report on cancer research funding published by the European Cancer Research Managers Forum (ECRM) shows despite spending the most money on cancer research in Europe, the UK is not as productive as other countries
- The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee published its report on allergies on 26 September, concluding that more funding should be directed towards understanding the factors which contribute to the development of an allergy
- The University of Liverpool has secured funding of £3 million from the Department of Health and a further £2m from the Wolfson Foundation to support research into developing medical treatments that are tailored to a patient’s genetic make-up
- The NHS plans to begin introducing its Research Passport across the UK from 30 October, despite disappointing take-up levels during a pilot run.
Source: The Biosciences Federation.
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