I am in Denmark on a study visit looking at how they do innovation. More on that in a few days time I hope. In the meantime colleagues at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) sent me through the link to their revised vision, aims etc which was published on their website last... Continue Reading →
Y’All: I still don’t really know what the BIS Science and Society strategy is about, do you?
I've been meaning to post this ever since it came across my Twitter feed some weeks ago. If you go on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Science and Society Strategy pages you'll see that they have published updated action plans for each of the 'Expert Groups' set up in 2010. These groups were tasked to... Continue Reading →
Cable and Willetts take public dialogue on science out of cold storage
It was only this time last week that, as I mulled over ideas for this blog, I considered a post listing some interesting 'facts' about public engagement including the number of days since the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) had said anything about future policy initiatives in the area of science and society. I should not... Continue Reading →
November: year-zero or zero-sum game in the Government’s approach to growth in the life sciences sector?
On his deathbed in November 1986 Harold Macmillan remarked ruefully on the fact that unemployment was 28% in his old parliamentary seat of Stockton-on-Tees and 29% sixty-three years before, when he was its MP. 'It's a rather sad end to one's life,' he said. There seems to be a similar bleakness to the tone and... Continue Reading →
HEFCE Funding Announcement – Lord Willis Comment
LORD WILLIS, AMRC CHAIR, COMMENTS ON HEFCE FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT Reacting to today’s announcement of funding allocations for Higher Education Institutions by the Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE) Lord Willis, Chair of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), said: “These are uncertain times for science and research with a tightening spending budget and considerable... Continue Reading →
Science budget: where will the money go?
If you are looking for the detail of today's announcement by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on the science budget allocations for the spending review period then please look at the excellent summary by our policy and public affairs manager, Becky Purvis, here. Further perspective from me in due course. But, given... Continue Reading →
User involvement in research – drive your own train
I am at the INVOLVE two-day conference in Nottingham this week. INVOLVE is the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded programme promoting public involvement in research. It is perhaps worth adding that INVOLVE is the only publicly funded national organisation of its kind across the world. It's a packed conference - almost 500 delegates... Continue Reading →
Science in a near miss with Cable but flies on…to Birmingham and China perhaps
I feel I must dedicate this blog to the gentleman who posted an online comment in response to my letter in The Times yesterday, saying it caused him 'metaphor indigestion.' I could almost hear the indefatigable voice of my English teacher, the late Brian Mitchell, behind every word.* So....like the Red Arrows at one of... Continue Reading →
Vince Cable on Science: a home-spun piece from afar
They say that if you want to see your hometown or nation in a different light you should walk with a stranger who is seeing and experiencing it for the first time. I probably learnt more about England during my spells living abroad than I have in the years before or since. So I was... Continue Reading →
Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR)
I originally intended this to be a politics free blog for once. But such is life. Today we put in our submission on the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) which you can find on our website. I see there was some coverage of the Royal Society's own submission in this morning's papers. Many of the messages... Continue Reading →
Vince Cable on universities
The Business Secretary, Vince Cable's, speech on university reform can be found on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website. It is always dangerous to take quotes out of context but I noticed this quite interesting bit. 'Of course we must back internationally excellent research. But what we can’t afford is a system in... Continue Reading →
Willetts wants to cut loose science and go for growth
The Science Minister, David Willetts, was in thoughtful rather than visionary mode at the Royal Institution this morning I felt. The old hands among you will know by now that a Ministerial speech headlined as 'a vision' rarely lives up to its billing. But let's not mark him down on this. On science as in... Continue Reading →
Willetts to speak this Friday on Government's vision for Science in the UK
The Science Minister, David Willetts, will be making his first speech setting out the Government's vision for science in the UK this Friday 9th July at the Royal Institution at 11am. Tickets are free and can be booked through the Ri
