£250m to Train Scientists and Engineers of the Future

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has announced that £250m will be invested to create 44 training centres to train more than 2,000 PhD students in science and engineering. The aim is to create a 'new wave' of scientists and engineers who can tackle the most pressing problems faced by the UK, and globally.

The training centres will be multidisciplinary and 17 will be industrial; working closely with business. The doctoral centres include the STREAM (Skills, Technology. Research and Management) industrial centre for the UK Water Sector at Cranfield University and centres focusing on the development of wind energy, sustainable urban environments and the development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.

See full list of Postgraduate Training Centres

New Practical Biology website for schools

The Nuffield Curriculum Centre, in partnership with the Biosciences Federation, has launched a new Practical Biology website for teachers of secondary school biology. The website allows teachers to download tried and tested biology experiments that should work in any school laboratory. The practicals can be used as starting-points for investigations and also for enhancement activities, such as clubs or open day events.

To visit the website, go to: www.practicalbiology.org
More information about the project is available at: http://www.bsf.ac.uk/edu/eduhome.htm

Conservatives Launch Policy on Environmental Education

Tuesday saw the launch of 'Root to Branch', a paper developed by Gregory Barker MP, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, together with the Education Commission, at Frost and Reed Gallery in London. 'Root to Branch' explores the place of the Environment in schools, examines the barriers to a hands-on understanding of the natural world amongst school children and highlights the lack of a 'green' approach in many school buildings.

Both the BES's Policy Officer and Education Officer attended this event, at which David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, delivered a short speech on his vision for a green Britain, with sustainability developed using market forces.

The BES contributed to the early stages of development of the policy paper, briefing the Shadow Minister's office on the Society's education work and vision for encouraging a greater understanding and appreciation of ecology in our schools. While the paper acknowledges the importance of engaging young people with the natural world and reflects many of the concerns teachers have with delivering practical experiences we feel that it's disappointing that the paper goes on to make recommendations that seemingly focus on popular sustainability recommendations such as children walking and cycling to school rather than addressing some of the more complex issues it’s own research highlights.

The BES will continue to engage with the Shadow Minister's office as Root to Branch develops.

Ecological Education: Starting from Scratch

On Tuesday, 27 May, members of the British Ecological Society gathered in York to discuss the future of ecological education in the UK. The Education team at the Society organised the "Starting from Scratch" workshop with the aim of producing concrete outputs, from researchers, applied ecologists and teachers - school to university - which could eventually filter into policy making at the highest levels.

Participants in the day were clear in their views on the ecological component of the biology curriculum: for too long students have been taught content with little regard to its wider applicability or in an abstract fashion with little connection the the real world outside the classroom. There has been little change in the biology curriculum since it was drafted by Huxley in 1875. Are there components of ecology which should be removed or reworked? Participants were encouraged to consider "ecological thinking". Why are, for example, food webs, food chains, pyramids of numbers and the nitrogen cycle, taught in schools? What are these things for?

A presentation from the Field Studies Council highlighted the decline in fieldwork in schools, and the closure of field studies centres since the 1970s. This stressed that further work should be done to encourage confidence amongst teachers, whether during initial teaching training or at later career stages, through Continuous Professional Development, to take students out into the field to experience natural science first hand.

After discussion, many felt that the elements of the ecology curriculum currently in place were correct, but that these had to be taught in a different way, encouraging students to see ecology for what it is - applied biology in all its senses, with relevance to the real world and human impacts on it, and engendering an understanding and passion for nature outside the four walls of the classroom.

The BES policy and education teams will be working closely together later this year to develop this work. If you would be interested in getting involved, please contact the Society

ELQ Report Published

The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee has today published the report of its inquiry into the withdrawal of funding for equivalent or lower qualifications (ELQs). The Committee find that the Government presented no compelling evidence or analysis to justify the withdrawal of funding for ELQs in 2008, prior to a planned review of funding and fees for qualifications across all sectors in 2009.

The Government's arguments; that ELQ students were competing for places with, and displacing, those applying for first degrees and that the money withdrawn from funding ELQs would fund extra university places, were found to be without satisfactory evidence. Figures released by HEFCE in January 2008 suggest that there are no newly funded extra undergraduate places available in the first year of the scheme (2008/09).

The Committee call for a planned review on exemptions to the ELQ policy to be brought forward from December to summer 2008. They state that "exemptions from the withdrawal of funding...[should have] focus[ed] on students and courses likely to provide the greatest benefit to the economy and to meet skills shortages." The BES argued that subjects allied to ecology should be seen as strategically important, and so exempt from the policy.

Read the Committee's Report
Read the BES response to the Committee's inquiry

National Science and Engineering Week 2008

Today sees the launch of National Science and Engineering Week 2008 (7- 16 March). This initiative, funded by DIUS and coordinated by the BA and the Engineering and Technology Board, is an opportunity for all ages to get involved in science and technology activities and to discover the excitement of science.

Ecology-related events taking place around the country include a conference on 'Cutting Edge Research in Ecology and Conservation', at the University of Exeter, and a one-day event at the University of Leicester on advances in understanding of the ecology and behaviour of dinosaurs.

There is an opportunity for the public to ask questions of scientists on anything, however perplexing or confusing, and scientists will then answer these on the 'Big Questions' message board, through the media or through events taking place around the country. Some of the UK's most influential scientists and PM Gordon Brown have also posted questions which they would like other scientists to answer.

Contribute to a 'Big Question'