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| Diary Highlights |
30/11/10 CaSE attended a Science is Vital meeting
30/11/10 Imran Khan spoke at the Scientists for Labour AGM, alongside John Denham MP
30/11/10 CaSE met with John Puntert from Which
29/11/10 CaSE attended a meeting with the UK Border Agency
29/1/10 Hilary Leevers and Imran Khan met with officials from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills
25/11/10 Imran Khan and David Hawksett met with Imperial College London
25/11/10 Imran Khan spoke at the Royal Society of Chemistry's parliamentary affairs committee meeting
24/11/10 Imran Khan met with Simon Benn from the Times 100
23/11/2010 Hilary Leevers spoke at the conference on Barriers to disabled students in science and engineering, organised by the Institute of Physics
22/11/10 Imran Khan attended a two day conference at Chatham House entitled 'Is investment in science the path to future economic prosperity?'
19/11/10 CaSE welcomed the appointment of Prof Adrian Smith as the new Director General for Knowledge and Innovation (DG-KI) at BIS
19/11/10 Dave Hawksett met with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
18/11/10 CaSE met with Valerie Vaz MP
17/11/10 CaSE met with key collaborators to discuss their response to the Government's forthcoming immigration cap on non-EU migrants
17/11/10 CaSE met with the Labour Shadow Universities and Science Minister Gareth Thomas MP
15/11/10 CaSE met with staff from the House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee
15/11/10 CaSE met with Alok Sharma MP
11/11/10 Imran Khan met with Edinburgh University
10/11/10 CaSE has confirmation that the Ministry of Defence science and technology budget will be receiving a cash increase over the next 4 years.
10/11/10 Imran Khan attended the annual Science and the Parliament event in Scotland. Imran also met with the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Iain Gray MSP.
09/11/10 Imran Khan and Hilary Leevers met with Fiona Martland and Piers Baker from the Engineering Professors' Council
04/11/10 CaSE met with the TUC
04/11/10 Hilary Leevers attended a Reform lunch on the future of qualifications
04/11/10 CaSE met with Prospect
02/11/10 Imran Khan met with clerks from the Public Affairs Select Committee
01/11/10 CaSE held a post-Spending Review discussion meeting between members and collaborators, held by the Institute of Physics
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Please forward this on to any colleagues or friends you think will be interested in protecting science and engineering
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Non-EU Migrant Cap
| | CaSE has responded to the measures announced by the Government aimed at limiting the number of non-EU migrants entering the UK.
We welcome the efforts made by the Home Office to cater for the UK's need to attract and accept talented scientists and engineers, however, we remain concerned that the changes to the systems may well decrease the number of such individuals who can enter the country.
CaSE, along with colleagues from the sector, recently met with the UK Border Agency to discuss the implications of the migrant cap for the science and engineering sector and CaSE has produced the following briefing on Science, Engineering and the Immigration Cap.
CaSE Director Imran Khan had previously written an article for the Guardian on why placing an immigration cap on talent will be bad for UK science, while Assistant Director Hilary Leevers warned in the paper that the proposed cap is not compatible with a country looking to grow its way out of recession.
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Science stays at the top in BIS
| | CaSE has welcomed the appointment of Prof Adrian Smith as the new Director General for Knowledge and Innovation (DG-KI) at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - the department responsible for the Science Budget.
The appointment comes after concern that, for the first time in decades, the position responsible for overseeing government activity on science was likely to go to a career civil servant with no direct experience of the science and engineering sector.
CaSE wrote to both Science & Technology Select Committees on the issue, as well as writing to key MPs, speaking to the media and getting a question put to the Minister on the matter during BIS parliamentary questions.
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Science and maths in Secondary Education
| | A National Audit Office report published last month noted the many positive advances over recent years in science and maths secondary education. However, certain problems persist, like shortages of specialist mathematics and physics teachers. Furthermore, as outlined in a letter to the Times Educational Supplement, CaSE is seriously concerned that new government policies will start to undo the progress that has been made. CaSE's concerns were also covered in a Financial Times article on the NAO report.
CaSE held a roundtable meeting on the Education White Paper, published by the government recently, to discuss science provision in schools. The meeting was attended by key collaborators and hosted by the Wellcome Trust. Further to this meeting CaSE will be producing an action document, as well as blogging on the issue.
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MoD Research Budget
| | CaSE has welcomed confirmation by the Government that the Ministry of Defence science and technology budget will be receiving a cash increase over the next 4 years.
Taken with the real terms increase given to the Department of Health R&D budget in the spending review, this now means the two largest Whitehall departments for R&D spending have both maintained their budgets and CaSE hopes that other departments will follow their lead.
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Diversity in STEM
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Assistant Director Hilary Leevers spoke at a conference on 'Barriers to Disabled Students in Science and Engineering', organised by the Institute of Physics, and sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering. She talked about CaSE's work in this area, and attempts to get recommendations from the 2008 Delivering Diversity report implemented.
Hilary laid down a challenge to the learned societies present to, for the first time, create an online resource for disabled scientists and engineers, which the Institute of Physics has taken up, and we hope others will follow.
CaSE Director Imran Khan has also recently written for the Imperial College London newspaper on the serious institutional problems among science and engineering when it comes to diversity
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Interns
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CaSE is appointing a series of short-term interns. The CaSE website has more information if you are interested in joining CaSE for an internship or if your organisation would like to sponsor a CaSE intern, possibly working on a particular project, or to sponsor one of their own members or employees to spend time with CaSE.
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| Other issues that CaSE is working on |
- Education & Childrens Bill. CaSE will be monitoring the bill's passage to try to ensure that the teaching of science, technology and mathematics is protected in all schools
- CoPSAC. CaSE is responding to the Government CSA's consultation on the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees
- Quango Reform. CaSE is monitoring the government's reform of Non-Departmental Public Bodies, particularly changes to key scientific bodies
- Devolved elections. CaSE is currently developing its strategy for next year's elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Haldane Principle. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced it will be making a policy statement on the Haldane principle later in the year. Read CaSE's thoughts on the matter
If you wish to feed into any of the above policy areas please get in touch. |
CaSE Blog
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The CaSE blog provides ideas and analysis on science and engineering policy developments in the UK. Recent posts include:
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