June E-Bulletin 2012
In This E-Bulletin
Lords Refom
Science Question Time
Spending Review 2013?
R&D Scoreboard
Research Funding
CaSE News 70
Other work
Events
Guest Articles
Consultations

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Diary

28/05/12 Imran Khan met with the Director of the Queen Prize for Engineering

 

23/05/12 Beck Smith attended an Unlock Democracy event on House of Lords reform

 

22/05/12 CaSE held a meeting of its Board of Directors

 

22/05/12 Imran Khan attended a reception at the Biochemical Society

 

21/05/12 CaSE co-organised a roundtable on the 4G windfall, hosted by Nesta.

 

18/05/12 Imran Khan attended a City Hall STEM Education meeting

 

17/05/12 Imran Khan attended a meeting of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee

 

16/05/12 Imran Khan attended the launch of Mark Henderson's new book 'The Geek Manifesto',

 

15/05/12 Imran Khan attended a EU-UK Health and Science Group meeting, organised by Cancer Research UK

 

15/05/12 Imran Khan attended a Policy Exchange event

 

14/05/12 Imran Khan met with policy advisers from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

 

14/05/12 Imran Khan met with Nesta

 

10/05/12 Imran Khan met with Julian Huppert MP

 

09/05/12 CaSE met with Nesta

 

08/05/12 Imran Khan met with the Chief Executive for the Association for Science Education (ASE)

 

03/05/12 Imran Khan gave a presentation to the TUC 

 

01/05/12 Imran Khan met with the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London

 
Please forward this on to any colleagues or friends you think would be interested in supporting science and engineering.

  
House of Lords Reform  
With House of Lords reform on the political agenda, CaSE has published a new report, looking at the role of expertise in the House of Lords and asking how the current representation and use of expertise could be improved, with or without reform.    

The report's author, CaSE Assistant Director Beck Smith, has also co-written a guest article in Research Fortnight on the subject, with Professor James Wilsdon (Professor of Science and Democracy at SPRU, University of Sussex). Meanwhile CaSE director Imran Khan has also written an article in The Telegraph.

As part of this work CaSE held a roundtable meeting in Parliament to discuss the proposed reforms with Lord Willis (member of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee), James Wilsdon, and Baroness Finlay (clinical academic at the Cardiff University and the Velindre Cancer Centre) on the panel.

  
Invitation: Science Question Time on 'Growth'

The next Science Question Time is nearly upon us. Following the lively discussions around nuclear power, we'll be discussing whether and how scientific advancement can deliver growth.

 

Since David Willetts' first speech as Science Minister, the coalition has been pushing 'science for growth'.

 

But can the government pick winners? Are their policies joined-up enough to deliver? Is the state committing enough to long-term investment, or is too much store being set on narrowly defined versions of 'impact'? Are businesses really on board? Perhaps we need to think in different terms entirely - should we be looking to technology for sustainability, rather than growth? Is an unrelenting focus on growth a bit irresponsible?

 

Join our distinguished chair and panel on Monday 18th June to discuss these issues and more. You can sign up here. 
Spending Review - 2013?

We've had strong indications that the next Spending Review will be brought forward to 2013. This means that the argument for publicly funded research must be renewed. For CaSE's analysis see here.  

 

In preparation, CaSE brought together over 30 of its member organisations from industry, academia, learned societies and research charities, alongside other stakeholders, to discuss how to move forward. The meeting was kindly hosted by Cancer Research UK. Speaking at the event were:

  • Dr Graeme Reid, Head of Research Funding at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. You can view his presentation here. 
  • Professor Alan Hughes, Director of the Centre for Business Research at the University of Cambridge.  

Our comments on the upcoming Spending Review were also covered in the Times Higher Education. If you would like further details please get in touch. 

R&D Scoreboard 

We're disappointed that the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) has confirmed that it will not be reinstating the Research and Development (R&D) Scoreboard, citing budgetary concerns.  

 

The R&D Scoreboard was a leading source of information and analysis on the UK's private-sector R&D activity.  

 

We'd found BIS officials to be helpful and engaging in discussions over the Scoreboard, so we're both surprised and concerned that they have confirmed they won't be reversing their hastily-taken and short-sighted decision. See here for a summary of some of the arguments that we, along with our members, put to BIS. We intend to revisit this issue in future.

 

CaSE Calls for Focus on Research Funding 

CaSE has welcomed the new activism group 'Science for the Future', but reiterated the need for the research community to focus on the backdrop of cuts to the science budget.

 

It's good to see Science for the Future mobilising researchers to have their say in the crucial debate over how research spending gets awarded, but we urge EPSRC and Science for the Future to engage constructively over these issues.  

 

Having lobbyists proclaim the 'death of British science' over a dispute involving one Research Council is distracting from the wider challenges facing publicly-funded research - challenges which we'll need a united front in order to meet.

 
CaSE News 70 
The latest issue of CaSE News has now been published.

 

As well as a round-up of CaSE's ongoing work, CaSE News 70 includes analysis of the Budget 2012, the government's new immigration rules, and our report on socioeconomic diversity in STEM.

Other Work 
  • CaSE Director Imran Khan gave a presentation at a TUC science and innovation seminar, alongside Professor Mariana Mazzucato (Professor of Science and Technology, SPRU, University of Sussex).
  • CaSE Director Imran Khan met with Liberal Democrat science spokesperson Julian Huppert MP. 

  • CaSE met officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).   

Upcoming events 
  • Research Evaluation - Whose Impact is it Anyway?
    19th Jun 2012 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm:
    A panel discussion chaired by William Cullerne Bown (Founder and Publisher of Research Fortnight).
    Location: British Library. For further details see here
Guest Articles on the CaSE Blog

Upcoming consultations  


'Above the line' credit for Research and Development
HM Treasury Consultation
Deadline: 26th June 2012

Development of an Innovation Strategy for Wales
Welsh Government Consultation
Deadline: 23rd July 2012

Migration Advisory Committee Consultation
Deadline: 27th July 2012
For more information on our activities go to our website www.sciencecampaign.org.uk
 
To contact us please telephone 0207 679 4994 or email nickh@sciencecampaign.org.uk