Gordon Brown to Set Ambitious New Targets for Science and Maths Education

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce ambitious new targets for science and maths education when he delivers the Romanes Lecture at Oxford University later today.

In the lecture, the Prime Minister will explore how the UK can capitalise on our scientific and intellectual heritage to make Britain the best country in the world in which to practice science. The Prime Minister will signal his desire to move the country away from a reliance on financial services, instead placing science and technology at the heart of the UK economy as the country emerges from recession.

Within five years, the PM will announce, 90% of state schools will be expected to deliver triple science (single subject biology, physics and chemistry) at GCSE level; up from 32% currently. The Government aims to at least double the 8.5% of state school pupils studying triple science within this time period.

The lecture follows Lord Drayson's comments earlier this month, regarding whether Government should set the priorities for scientific research as a means to achieve delivery of the innovation and scientific advance needed to strengthen the UK economy. The scientific community reacted angrily to Lord Drayson's remarks.

Speaking on the Today Programme this morning, academics Professor Don Braben and Lord Krebs discussed the need for scientific endeavour to operate at arm's length from Government: the so-called 'Haldane Principle'. The Prime Minister's speech this afternoon is bound to stimulate questions on whether, in a time of recession, the Government does plan to direct funding for scientific research more stringently; with an emphasis on targets and deliverable outcomes and away from 'blue skies' endeavour.

More on this from BBC News

Should Science Investment be Determined by Industrial and Economic Priorities?

The UK Science minister, Lord Drayson, has called for a debate about weather a larger proportion of the research budget should be allocated to areas which could directly benefit the economy.

During his lecture at The Foundation for Science and Technology, Lord Drayson said that, in light of the current economic climate, he wanted to “stimulate a debate on our national science and innovation strategy, and whether it is adequately geared up to cope with the future.”

He then went on to ask his audience whether the time had come to make choices about the balance of investment in science projects based on their compatibility with industrial and economic priorities.

This has heightened concerns amongst scientists that pure research will lose out to areas that have commercial potential.

Nick Dusic, of the Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK (Case), told the BBC that Lord Drayson's proposal could undermine the government's hard work in building up the UK's research base over the past decade.

"There has been a lot of effort over the last few years to increase the impact of the research base, including setting grand challenges and creating new institutions to focus on translational research," he said. "More direction from the government would cause alarm across the research community”.

Read more about this story on the BBC News website

A recording and transcript of the lecture is available on The Foundation for Science and Technology website

CaSE Forum Focuses on the Impact of the UK Science Base

Today saw the participation of the BES Policy Team in an Opinion Forum organised by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), focusing on the impact of the UK science and engineering base. The Forum was the first step towards the publication of a policy document by CaSE, summarising discussion and to be used as a basis for the organisation's lobbying activities.

Participants heard presentations from Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn-Smith FRS, former Director General of CERN, Dr Graeme Reid, DIUS, and Professor Philip Esler, Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Interesting points were made regarding the distinction between 'basic' (or 'curiosity driven') and 'applied' research; including whether such definitions were in fact unhelpful. Is 'basic' research simply applied research which hasn't been applied yet?

Basic research was seen as a vital component of the UK research base and participants felt strongly that the increased emphasis on Knowledge Transfer by the Research Councils should not be at the expense of 'blue skies' thinking. Basic research has a vital role not only in the possibility it offers of discoveries of enormous economic and practical importance, but also in the contribution it offers to culture and to education: attracting people to science through the often fantastic nature of blue skies endeavours.

Discussion in the afternoon's break-out sessions highlighted the importance of communication between researchers, industry and Government to capitalise to the development of benefits from research, and to effecting a 'culture change' within universities: Knowledge Transfer is important and is something researchers should engage in. Changes are also required in the consumers of research however. Government in particular was singled out as needing to become a more intelligent customer of research. Finally, participants felt that there was the need for the formation of a body to act as an 'independent broker' of research, matching researchers to industry and Government need and vice versa. In some respects, this echoes the work of Learned Societies such as the BES, but at a much wider, cross-disciplinary scale.

For further information about the work of CaSE please visit the CaSE website.

£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

NERC Peer Review College Advertising

Applications are now welcome for the NERC peer review college. The closing date is 9 January 2009.

NERC is seeking college members with all types of environmental sciences expertise. Those selected will make an important contribution to determining the science that NERC funds and will have a pivotal role in maintaining its quality. Members of the peer review college find that they gain valuable insight into the grant assessment process, which can help them to formulate their own proposals. Other benefits of membership are the chance to examine a wide variety of proposals and the opportunity to network with colleagues at panel meetings.

For further information, please contact the Peer Review College at college@nerc.ac.uk or see www.nerc.ac.uk.

Translating Science to Policy Effectively: Looking to the Amazon

A high citation index is an interpretation of the effectiveness of science communication between scientists, not to mention the importance and relevance of the research, within that particular field. But is a highly cited paper an indication of effective communication to the public and policy makers?

Writing in NERC's Planet Earth publication, Alan Grainger recalled that research by Oliver Phillips in the late nineties illustrated just how tropical forests, not only store, but sequester carbon, set about a chain of events that resulted in the creation of RAINFOR, a multinational scientific network.

RAINFOR has published and continues to publish an extensive body of research in highly ranked journals. The research has reached policy makers in two distinct ways; indirectly through the IPCC and directly through a report by the British Government that used a synthesis of RAINFOR research at a UN convention on climate change.

Because the results of RAINFOR's work has been effectively communicated to policy-makers, initiatives such as carbon-offset schemes that involve planting forests have been operationalised. However international policy has yet to fully take on board the full implications of their research, such as conserving existing natural forests. If effectively valued and incorporated into the carbon offset markets, forests are worth orders of magnitude more standing then cleared.

Publishing in leading journals such as Science and Nature often results in a level of exposure to the media that would not otherwise be received in the 'smaller' journals. The BES journals (Journal of Ecology, Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology and Journal of Applied Ecology) are ranked some of the highest within ecology; all but one ranked inside the top twenty ecology journals. Concurrently, extensive media coverage highlights scientific developments to policy-makers. This can be particularly effective when the paper clearly has policy relevance, such as Professor Bill Sutherland's paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology in 2006: The identification of 100 questions of high policy-relevance in the UK.

When Alan Grainier reported that UN estimates of forest loss could be overinflated due to their statistical modeling techniques, and possibly underestimating the influence of natural forest regrowth, he stressed the importance of errors when making forest estimates. So that the message wasn't misinterpreted in his research, he emphasised the need for a better monitoring system. After exposure from the BBC, and subsequently across the globe, it is hoped that carbon credits trading under REDD, (Reducing GHG Emissions through Deforestation and forest Degradation), will consider Alan's idea of creating a World Forest Observatory.

Finally, interacting directly with ministers is an effective means of translating science into policy. Meetings and conferences attended by ministers, are a great opportunity for scientists to interact with politicians and present their ideas and findings.

Scientists must always be mindful that, in order to get the message across, they should be clear, non-technical and succinct, so as not to alienate their subject.

Funding Crisis Puts Kew Seed Bank in Jeopardy

A £100 Million funding shortfall in funding paints an uncertain future for the world's leading seed bank project in Kew, London.

Scientists are said to have less than a year to raise the enormous sum, after which the Millenium Seed Bank, the most important of its kind, could face closure.

Dr. Paul Smith, head of the seed bank believes the ominous economic climate could worsen the hopes of finding the necessary cash: "We have enough to maintain things as they are but we have the vast majority of the funding still to raise. If we can't get it our hopes of collecting seeds from the many plants under threat - the purpose for which the seed bank was built - will disappear."

The aim of the seed bank, located in Wakehurst Place, West Sussex, is to collect 25 per cent of seeds from flowering plants by 2020 - a 15 per cent increase on the existing stock. A number of species' seeds stored in the seed bank have already died out in the wild. Failure to secure the future of the seed bank could mean the ultimate extinction of species that already no longer exist in the wild.

Defra and other government departments are keen to keep costs down, despite negotiation efforts on behalf of Kew. A special lobbying team has been created to try and recruit funding before existing funds expire at the end of next year.

As climate change continues to make more land less suitable for existing major crop species, and more diverse and virulent viruses potentially loom, it is imperative that, at the very least, the world has a genetically diverse 'backup' of historical cultivars or crop varieties to fall back on. Not to mention the moral obligation of conserving as much of the diversity of plant life as we possibly can, especially if it becomes impossible to do so in situ.

Writing for The Times, Editor of British Ecological Society's Functional Ecology journal Dr. Ken Thompson highlighted the "important role the seed bank plays in enthusing botanists from around the world." Dr. Thompson also drew attention to the implications for research: "Not only are there seeds of plants that are endangered or have even become extinct, but the seeds are a vital resource for researchers who need them in a hurry... ...seeds known to be viable and with growing instructions because of the work done before they were stored."

New Grants to Safeguard Species and Habitats in England

Natural England yesterday announced a new £5million package to support Voluntary Conservation Organisations in safeguarding England's priority habitats and species. The new scheme, 'Countdown 2010', will run for the next three years, funding projects which protect specific endangered species but also supporting initiatives dedicated to the revival of habitats and species across large areas.

Voluntary Conservation Organisations can apply for three-year grants, with a minimum award of £25,000 and a maximum of £250,000 in each of the three years. The programme finishes in March 2011.

Defra yesterday published a revised list of England's priority habitats and species, which sees the number of priority species nearly double, to 914. The Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Action Fund will support projects which target species and habitats on this list.

REF May Be Delayed By One Year

An article in this week's THS claims that implementation of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the RAE, is to be delayed by a year to allow a comprehensive pilot to be run. HEFCE originally intended to introduce the new system for assessing science subjects, through the use of metrics, in 2009, following a pilot this year alongside RAE2008. HEFCE seem to have responded to the criticism, in numerous responses to the consultation earlier this year, that the timetable was too tight.

The system was to be phased in between 2010 and 2014, with the peer-review system for assessment of non-science subjects to begin in 2013.

A final decision had not been made when the THS went to press.

Link to original article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, 10 April 2008

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

Government Publishes Science and Innovation White Paper

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has today published a White Paper on Science and Innovation, "Innovation Nation", along with the Government's response to Lord Sainsbury's Review of Government science and innovation policies. The Government aims to develop an innovative STEM workforce and strong research base to both improve the UK's attractiveness to investors and ability to tackle challenges such as climate change.
Policy developments include:

• A new annual review of the innovation in the UK to be published, along with the development of an 'Index of Innovation' to illustrate the UK's performance.
• The establishment of a new 'Innovation Research Centre' to ensure that innovative research outputs flow into the policy community.
• DIUS to work with the Department for Communities, Schools and Families to promote greater take up of STEM subjects in schools.
• DIUS is encouraging bids for a National Skills Academy for the environment.
• DIUS to lead a cross-Government project on labour market needs for STEM skills, leading to adjustments in policy.

In its response to the Sainsbury Review, the Government pledges to improve awareness of STEM careers opportunities amongst school children, to support CPD activities for STEM teachers through the science learning centres and expand science and engineering clubs in schools.

DIUS also announces plans to consult on the Government's science and society strategy in spring 2008, focusing on the relationship between the scientific community, wider public and policy makers.

DEFRA 2008/09 Budget Announced

The 2008/09 Defra budget was yesterday made public, with a modest increase in funds (1.4%, or almost £4 billion over three years) on 2007/08 levels. Significant new investment was announced in the following areas:

• Low Carbon Technology: The domestic Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) has been increased to £400 million over the next three years. As part of this, the Carbon Trust will receive £47.5 million to bring forward the development of clean energy technologies such as offshore wind, marine energy and biomass heating. In addition, £800 million will be available over three years to tackle environmental challenges in the developing world.
• Sustainable Waste Infrastructure: £2 billion for Private Finance Initiatives (PFI)  over three years.
• Flood Protection: £2.15 billion over three years
• Rural Development Programme for England: Resources doubled to £3.9 billion available to 2013.

In addition, the Government is to provide £10 million for a new anaerobic digestion demonstration programme, which will result in the development of at least four commercial-scale facilities to demonstrate the potential of this technology to create renewable energy from waste.

Natural England will receive a budget allocation of £176 million, a decrease on its 2007/8 budget. Natural England have welcomed the settlement, recognising it as "challenging but manageable."

Beacons for Public Engagement

Wednesday night, 30 January, saw the launch of six 'Beacons of Public Engagement', a scheme to encourage researchers and the public towards greater interaction and understanding. The £9.2M initiative, funded by the UK higher education research councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust, is one of the biggest of its kind ever launched in the UK. Through a series of collaborative initiatives, researchers will be encouraged to see the social implications of their research, to reach out to the public to communicate their work and make their research more accessible to external audiences.

Writing in the Times Higher yesterday, Jack Stilgoe, a senior reseacher at the think tank DEMOS, called for those scientists who do take the time to enage with the public, to be rewarded for their efforts. Proposals for the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the RAE, do not as they stand reward scientists' activities in such areas, a situation which many scientific organisations, including the BES, would like to see altered.

Respond to the HEFCE consultation on the REF at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2007/07_34/ by 14 February 2008.

Valuing Scientists' Engagement with Policy

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is currently consulting on plans for a Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the RAE which, it is proposed, will take place in 2012. Under the REF proposals, scientific departments will be judged by the number of citations which academics' papers receive, number of research students and research income, over a five to 10 year period.

In last week's Times Higher (24 January), John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, called for a greater recognition within the REF of the engagement between scientists and policy makers. Such work could be measured through reports to Government, committee membership and verbal advice. At present, HEFCE's proposals for the assessment of research in science, engineering, technology and medicine do not extend to the use of the 'light-touch peer review' necessary to take account of such contributions.

The BES plan to respond to the HEFCE consultation together with the Biosciences Federation and Institute of Biology.

Ministerial Launch of Science Budget Allocations to 2011

The science budget is to rise to £4 billion by the end of the Government's current spending period in 2011. The Rt Hon John Denham, Secretary of State for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), today announced that cross-cutting programmes bringing together the UK's Research Councils to focus on key areas of national importance, including climate change and energy security, would attract £1.3 billion of this extra funding.

Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) is one such interdisciplinary partnership, bringing together researchers and policy makers to tackle environmental change and the societal challenges it poses. LWEC benefits from £363 million of Government funding over the CSR period, outlined in the science budget allocations.

BiodivERsA - £14 Million for Biodiversity Research

BiodivERsA, a new network of 19 public research funding bodies, across 14 European countries, has launched a joint call for international research projects on biodiversity, linking scientific advancement to policy and practice. Almost £14 million is available under the scheme, with DEFRA and NERC as the UK partners.

The call is open to research on all ecosystems and organisms addressing at least one of three thematic areas:

- Global change and biodiversity dynamics

- Ecosystem functioning

- Ecosystem services

Both science and policy aspects must be addressed within the proposal.

Applications are invited from those employed by an eligible organisation in one of the countries participating in BiodivERsA, whose work involves at least three countries also part of the network. 

Scottish Budget Spending Review

The Scottish Government released their spending plans for the next three years. £566.2 million will be spent over the next three years on delivering the Scottish Rural Development Programme which focuses on improving rural business production, climate change, water quality and landscape and biodiversity. £44.5 million will be invested into protecting Scotland's marine environment and establishing a Scottish Marine Management Partnership. £70million per annum will be spent on research to support decisions made by policymakers and practitioners and a further £2million a year will be invested in climate change research.

Environmental Science Strategy

The Natural Environment Research Council launched Next Generation Science for Planet Earth, their new science strategy. NERC’s strategic goal is to deliver world-leading environmental research at the frontiers of knowledge:

• enabling society to respond urgently to global climate change and the increasing
  pressures on natural resources
• contributing to UK leadership in predicting the regional and local impacts of environmental change from days to decades
• creating and supporting vibrant, integrated research communities.

Comprehensive Spending Review

In the 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review:

• Defra will receive an average annual increase of 1.4%, increasing the total budget from £3,508 million in 2007 to £3,960 million by 2010-11. This increase will provide the delivery of an increase to £800 million spent on flood and coastal risk management, a step-change in investment for sustainable waste management and a £570 million contribution to the Environmental Transformation Fund.
• NERC will receive an increase of 5.4% each year totalling £1.2 billion over the next three years which will assist in the Next Generation Science for Planet Earth 2007 - 2012 Strategy which will be launched in November this year. The Department for Innovation, University and Skills' budget of 18.7 billion in 2007-2008 will rise to £20.8 billion in 2010-2011, an average annual increase of 2.2%. This increase supports the Government's aim for Britain to be a world class place for science, research and innovation.

Sainsbury Review

Lord Sainsbury has published his review of the Government's science and innovation policies. The report entitled a Race to the Top calls for:

• A new leadership role for the Technology Strategy Board Working with the RDA's the Research Councils and government departments to co-ordinate public sector support for technological innovation, leverage public sector resources and simplify access to funds for business.
• Building on our success in knowledge transfer by giving more support through the Higher Education Innovation Fund to business-facing universities, setting targets for knowledge transfer from Research Councils, doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and extending these further to FE Colleges.
• A major campaign to enhance the teaching of science and technology including raising the number of qualified STEM teachers, increasing the number of young people studying triple science, improving careers advice, establishing a National Science Competition, and rationalising the many schemes to inspire our young people to take up careers in science and engineering.
• A key role for Government Departments based on an improved procurement capability, a reformed Small Business Research Initiative managed in partnership with the TSB, and consideration for the incorporation of innovation into the duties of the economic regulators.
• Increasing the focus of RDAs on science and innovation by encouraging them to put additional resources into TSB programmes, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, high-technology clusters around world-class research universities, and proof-of-concept schemes consistent with a nationally agreed specification.

The Government has announced that it will invest £1 billion over the next three years to boost business innovation and technology development and will create a new science and innovation strategy, to help position Britain as a key knowledge economy at the forefront of 21st century innovation.