CaSE Appoints New Assistant Director 

CaSE welcomes Beck Smith as the our Assistant Director. Beck will play a leading role in CaSE's policy analysis and development, engaging with high-level decision makers and opinion-formers, commenting in the media, and supporting the work of the Director, Imran Khan.

Beck studied Natural Sciences at the University of East Anglia.   Prior to her appointment as Assistant Director, she worked at the Biochemical Society as Parliamentary and Policy Officer before becoming Head of Policy in 2010. She replaces Dr Hilary Leevers, who has taken on a new position as Head of Education and Learning at the Wellcome Trust.

On her appointment, Beck said: "I'm really excited to be joining CaSE as Assistant Director in October 2011. CaSE is recognised for its influence and expertise, and I look forward to working with the CaSE team to ensure science and engineering remain high on the political agenda".

STEM Education  

A-Levels

CaSE welcomed another great year for science and maths A-levels last month. As well as big increases in the number of students taking maths, further maths, biology, chemistry, and physics, we also saw the 'market share' of these subjects increasing for the second year running.

However, CaSE has warned against any complacency, citing international and historical comparisons, and inequalities in gender and school sector, as examples of the need for increased effort.  

GCSEs

CaSE also welcomed another excellent year for science GCSEs. Entries in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology increased by 16%, 16%, and 14% respectively, building on increases of 32%, 32%, and 28% last year.   

However this momentum needs to be kept up. CaSE has renewed its calls for all young people who show an aptitude for science by the age of 14 to be automatically registered for Triple Science, echoing recent statements made by the CBI.  

Our Director, Imran Khan, appeared on BBC Breakfast television to discuss the A-level and GCSE results.

Teacher Training Proposals

CaSE has published its consultation response to the Department of Education's report Training our next generation of outstanding teachers.  The response makes a number of suggestions on how the government can better encourage the recruitment and retention of high-calibre teachers in science and maths subjects.  

Science Question Time  

The event featured a panel of Athene Donald (Cambridge University), David Sweeney (HEFCE), Louis Coiffait (Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning), Scott Heath (Imperial College London), and was chaired by William Cullerne Brown (Founder of Research Fortnight). 

The next Science Question Time will discuss the future of drugs and will be held on 25th October. For further details about the events please get in touch. 

New Organisational Member

CaSE is delighted  to welcome the University of Brighton as a new member of CaSE . 

CaSE Executive Commitee 

We will be holding a General Meeting on Monday 17th October to elect the new CaSE Executive Committee.

For further details please see our website or get in touch. 

Policy Jobs and Events

CaSE has set up a new policy jobs section on its website. Here you will find links to a variety of science policy jobs ranging from graduate entry to those that require more experience.

If you are a prospective employer and would like to advertise a vacancy here, please email info@sciencecampaign.org.uk. Postings are free of charge to CaSE member organisations and other non-profit organisations in the science policy sector. We are happy to advertise internship or work experience positions on this page.   

CaSE has also launched a new policy events calendar. If you're hosting or know of any events you'd like to add to the list, please do email us about them - the restrictions are that it should be connected to science and engineering policy in some way, and that it should not charge for entry.

Interns

We would like to thank Katya-Yani Vyas for her help over the last few months as a CaSE intern. She has worked on a number of projects, particularly resources and strategies to encourage scientists and engineers to engage more with policy issues

We are now considering internship applications for the autumn. For further details about applying please see here.  

• R&D Tax Credits 

  CaSE has submitted its response to the HM Treasury consultation on R&D Tax Credits, based on feedback from its industrial members.   

• Scotland
  CaSE has written to the First Minister Alex Salmond MSP, asking that the SNP Government create a Science Minister role. If you share our concerns that science and engineering need better representation in the Scottish Government, and that a Science Minister could help Scotland become an even more innovative nation, please get in touch.   

• Scientists and engineers into policy-making
  CaSE consistently encourages scientists and engineers to get directly involved in campaigning for the interests of our sector. We will be publishing a 'how to' guide shortly.

• UK Pharma 
  Programme Manager for Life Science at the Royal Society of Chemistry, James Hutchinson, has written a guest article for the CaSE blog on what the future holds for the UK pharmaceutical industry.  

If you wish to feed into any of the above policy areas please

get in touch.  

Upcoming Consultations and Events 

Employment related settlement, Tier 5 and overseas domestic workers 

UK Border Agency Consultation 

Deadline: 9th September   

Role and function of departmental Chief Scientific Advisers  

House of Lords Science & Technology Committee Inquiry 

Deadline: 16th September    

Higher Education White Paper Consultation
Department for Education
Deadline: 20th September 

VAT Cost-Sharing Exemption 

HM Treasury Consultation 

Deadline: 30th September

Science diplomacy and the British Council
Policy Lunchbox event
7th October  

Funding the Future of Drug Development in the UK
Inside Pharma event
19th October   

For details about futher events see our policy events calender