Announcements are like buses.  There are none for what seem like days and then several come all at once.  My job is to make sure you get on the right one…

NIHR has several announcements out today which AMRC and its members have had some involvement or interest in.  The first is the launch of the new model Industry Collaborative Research Agreement (mICRA).  It will enable research studies to start much more quickly by enabling people to work through the contractual issues more efficiently, particularly issues around Intellectual Property (IP).   AMRC was on the working group that developed it.

I see no reason why the document should not be as reliable, solid, or user-friendly as its automobile namesake, the Nissan Micra, but a lot faster!  And if you can tell me what the link is between that car and a well-known UK charity that is an AMRC member charity you can have a free invite to our Science Communication Award ceremony in March.  

The second announcement of note is the launch of PROSPERO.  Developed by the NIHR’s Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, PROSPERO is the first online facility to register systematic reviewes for research about health and social care from all around the world.  And access is free and open to the public.  An excellent tool in the drive towards greater transparency and the curtailment of duplication.

And if you’re up for a good debate in this half-term week then my favourite blog of the moment is Alice Bell’s on the recent remarks by the Chief Scientist, John Beddington, calling for science and scientists to be more intolerant of those that spin pseudo-science etc.  It has prompted a rather good discussion in my view.