July 2012 CaSE E-Bulletin

July E-Bulletin 2012

In This E-Bulletin

Science Question Time

New GCSA Appointed

Women in STEM

STEM Disability

Other Work

Guest Articles

Consultations

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Diary

29/06/12 Beck Smith attended a NESTA seminar on policies to foster innovation

28/06/12 Beck Smith gave a presentation on careers in science policy at the NC3R Summer School

26/06/12 Beck Smith was a panellist at the TUC's After Austerity conference

26/06/12 Beck Smith attended the Society of Biology's Parliamentary Links Day

21/06/12 Beck Smith attended the launch of a new Royal Society report on open science policy

21/06/12 Imran Khan and Beck Smith met with the Engineering Professors' Council

21/06/12 Imran Khan and Beck Smith met with the Met Office

20/06/12 Imran Khan attended the Foundation for Science and Technology Lecture

20/06/12 Imran Khan attended a meeting of the Institute of Physics' Science Board

19/06/12 Imran Khan and Professor Hugh Griffiths met with Adam Afriyie MP

19/06/12 Imran Khan attended the launch event of a new set of British Sign Language signs for physics and engineering terms

18/06/12 CaSE held its latest Science Question Time event

18/06/12 Imran Khan met with the British Humanist Association

15/06/12 Imran Khan met with the Alliance for Useful Evidence

14/06/12 CaSE met with the Technology Strategy Board

13/06/12 Beck Smith attended a meeting of the Heads of University Biological Sciences (HUBS) Executive

12/06/12 CaSE met with the Royal Society of Chemistry

11/06/12 Imran Khan met with the Society of Chemical Industry

11/06/12 Imran Khan met with London Met University

06/06/12 CaSE met with Understanding Animal Research

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Science Question Time on 'Growth'

June saw the seventh Science Question Time event, run by CaSE in collaboration with the Biochemical Society and Alice Bell of Imperial College. With 'Growth' as the evening's theme the panel and audience discussed the concept of economic growth, and how science and innovation can help to deliver it.

Chairing the discussion was Dr Jack Stilgoe, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Business School. He was joined on the panel by:

Dr Penny Attridge, an Investment Director at SPARK Impact
Dr Rebekah Higgitt, a historian of science from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Professor Mariana Mazzucato, of the University of Sussex Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU),
and Professor James Meadway, of the new economics foundation.

You can read a summary of the event here or listen to the full debate on our SoundCloud page.

New Government Chief Scientific Adviser Appointed

The Government has announced the appointment of Sir Mark Walport as the new Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA). Sir Mark is currently the Director of the Wellcome Trust.

He will take up the position on 1 April 2013 replacing the current GCSA, Professor Sir John Beddington, who has served in the post since January 2008.

We look forward to supporting Sir Mark in putting science, engineering and technology at the heart of policy-making and ensuring high-quality scientific advice is embedded across Whitehall and Government.

MPs debate women in STEM

The hurdles facing women in science were addressed by MPs in the House of Commons last month, as part of an adjournment debate organised by Valerie Vaz MP.

Ms Vaz called on the Government to heed CaSE's recommendation that a strategy and specific targets for increasing inclusion should be developed by the Government.

CaSE has been working hard to raise the profile of the diversity agenda in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and we very much welcome the debate. As part of this work, we recently published a short report examining socio-economic diversity in STEM .

New STEM Disability website launched

June saw the launch of two projects aimed at removing barriers for disabled people in science and engineering. The STEM Disability Committee, of which CaSE is a founding member, launched its new website. The site is set to become the sector's main resource and portal for people studying or working in science and engineering.

CaSE director Imran Khan also opened a special event at the Royal Academy of Engineering, where a new set of British Sign Language (BSL) signs, developed for the STEM curriculum, were launched.

Other work

CaSE Assistant Director Beck Smith appeared on the Guardian's Science Weekly podcast, to discuss CaSE's new report on House of Lords reform.
CaSE's recent report on the precarious state of science and engineering funding was cited by Baroness Sharp in a House of Lord's debate on economic growth.
CaSE Director Imran Khan met with the Chair of the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST).

Guest Articles on the CaSE Blog
Anji Hunter, Director of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, on the launch of the prize. Professor Steve Sparks, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, on the need for an evidence-based national curriculum.

Upcoming consultations
Consultation questionnaire on the draft Primary Mathematics National Curriculum Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education Deadline: 18th July 2012 Development of an Innovation Strategy for Wales Welsh Government Consultation Deadline: 23rd July 2012 Review of Tier 2 Code of Practice 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