Tag Archives: Guest Article

Opportunity or ability in education?

By Dr Rhys Morgan, E4E | Published: 04/01/2013

A few months ago, Education for Engineering (E4E), the body representing the professional engineering community on education and skills matters, published the first in a series of reports on pupils’ participation and attainment in science and mathematics qualifications at key stage 4 in England.

The first report, entitled ‘Opportunity or Ability?’, examined national and regional GCSE results, as well as differences in participation and attainment in science and mathematics between co-ed and single sex schools in both the state-maintained and independent sectors. Read More »

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A science policy for Labour?

By Tim Page, TUC | Published: 20/12/2012

In the next two years, Labour will need to develop the policy detail to underpin its commitment to a fairer capitalism and a rebalanced economy. So how can science policy support this agenda?

Labour is now committed to an active industrial strategy that focuses on high performing sectors. Research and development-intensive sectors, including automotive, life sciences and aerospace are likely to be included. The TUC has long called for a sector led industrial strategy, so we welcome this commitment. Read More »

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Help steer the Research Councils

By Alexandra Saxon, Research Councils UK | Published: 24/10/2012

Each year the Research Councils invest around £3 billion in UK research

On Monday, Research Councils UK announced that six of the Research Councils were looking to fill vacancies on their governing Councils.  It probably isn’t the most engaging of our announcements but it could be classed as one of the most important.  Why?  Read More »

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Physics for future jobs

By Alex Connor, Institute of Physics | Published: 18/10/2012

The figures announced this week showing that UK employment has hit an all-time high are obviously welcome.  If the UK is to recover its economic standing, and prosper in the future, then creating private sector jobs will be essential. But what kind of jobs should the UK be creating?

It is clear that if we are to rebalance the economy of this country away from the financial sectors, businesses that are built on science, engineering, and particularly physics will have a significant role to play.  The Institute of Physics (IOP) has launched a report, in concert with Deloitte, that demonstrates how critical physics is to the continued existence of sectors of the economy that support more than a million jobs in the UK.   Read More »

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Party Conferences: Speaking up for science

By Bryony Victoria King | Published: 08/10/2012

When I decided to give a speech to the Labour Party Conference on science funding I didn’t expect much of a reaction. I anticipated that people who knew me would give polite congratulations and perhaps a few strangers interested in the topic would comment but apart from that I had resigned myself to the fact that it would probably go more or less unnoticed.

I am delighted to admit that I was wrong. Read More »

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Why we need more STEM graduates

By Matthew Harrison, Royal Academy of Engineering | Published: 02/10/2012

The report by the Royal Academy of Engineering published this week looks to put an end to a very long running debate – does the UK produce enough STEM graduates?

Those with long memories will count the number of times analysts have pointed to graduate destination data to show that a proportion of scientists eschew science careers and that engineers don’t always choose engineering employers. This usually provokes a row over what that data means for the economy, for university funding, and for those considering investing in a university education. Read More »

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Unlocking public support for innovation

By Steve Bates, BioIndustry Association | Published: 17/09/2012

It is a pleasure to write for the CaSE blog about the BioIndustry Association’s Citizens’ Innovation Funds (CIFs) proposal. I am confident we all share the ambition of shining a light on UK science and innovation and improving the environment within which research and development, translation and product commercialisation can take place in the UK. Read More »

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Science for development: The case of science advocacy in Chile

By Pablo Astudillo and Carlos Blondel, 'More Science for Chile' | Published: 13/09/2012

Chile became the first South American country to join the OECD, and is recognized as one of the fastest growing Latin American economies. But Chile has big cracks in two pillars critical for our economic and social progress: Science, and Education.

In our recent letter to Science we emphasized how the Chilean state has been effectively deaf for decades. It has ignored over 10 national and international reports from local and foreign experts and scientists, international organisations and science academies and societies, describing the need for a national plan for research and development under a proper institutional framework and governance for science. Read More »

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Science and sport – parallel pursuits?

By Graham Shaw, Science journalist | Published: 03/09/2012

Victoria Pendleton@London2012 by dullhunk, on Flickr

The Olympics are over for another four years and Great Britain basks in the glory of a fantastic month for Team GB, both off and on the field. The final medal table showed – and the Paralympics continue to show – that Britain punches well above its weight when it comes to sporting success.

Team GB finished third behind the superpowers of the US and China: we collected 65 medals in total, 29 of them gold,  beating the 47 medals collected by our athletes in the 2008 Beijing games and far surpassing the 48 medal target set by UK Sport, the funding body for the UK’s athletes. Read More »

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Plan i: How innovation can drive economic growth

By Stian Westlake, Nesta | Published: 03/09/2012

It’s no secret that the UK’s economy is a mess. What’s more of a surprise is that, four years into the crisis, the debate on what to do about the economy is still missing the point. While politicians and economists debate the virtues of Plan A and Plan B, austerity and stimulus, they’re missing something that may be obvious to engineers and scientists: that the real source of sustainable economic growth and societal progress isn’t short-term economic tinkering. It’s innovation. Read More »

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Lib Dem MP discusses new science proposals

By Dr Julian Huppert MP | Published: 28/08/2012

Julian Huppert MP

“Science and research are critical to our future health, wealth and happiness. The UK has a proud history of leading the world in ideas and innovation that have changed our planet and way of life.

But in recent decades, the UK government has not sufficiently recognised the importance of research and development. This country spends less on R&D than we used to, and than other countries do now.

If unchecked, this decline threatens to hurt our economy, reduce employment, and render the UK ever more reliant on buying innovation from overseas at great expense.

Read More »

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The Chief Scientific Advisor Agenda

By Guest Blogger | Published: 13/08/2012

Rob Doubleday is Executive Director of the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) at the University of Cambridge. The article first appeared in the July 2012 edition of CaSE News.

Ireland’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Patrick Cunningham, likes to quote Lord Ritchie-Calder, a science journalist who worked in government during the Second World War. Scientists had played a central role in the war effort, but “having gained access to the corridors of power, scientists could not find their way to the men’s room.”

We’ve come a long way since Ritchie-Calder’s day, however, the question of science’s proper place in government remains. And it has been aired again at the news of Sir Mark Walport’s appointment to be the next Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA). Read More »

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Promoting the return of the polymath

By Dr Tony Houghton, CCITE | Published: 12/07/2012


The UK’s schools are not producing enough technologists.  Evidence from sources such as the CBI, DBIS and NESTA reveals that many sectors of UK business and employment are experiencing severe skills shortages which threaten our international competitiveness. Most of these are related to applications of digital technologies.

The new Centre for Innovation in Technological Education (CITTE) aims to change that. It will support schools in strengthening the way technological education is integrated into the curriculum – to develop students’ technical and employability skills. Its approach will promote more positive perceptions of technology in teachers, parents and children – through stimulating, collaborative activities. Read More »

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Rational numbers: an evidence-based National Curriculum?

By Professor Steve Sparks FRS, ACME | Published: 02/07/2012

It’s been an exciting few weeks in the world of education policy. Amidst all the media coverage last week of a possible return to O-level examinations, you could be forgiven for forgetting that a draft national curriculum has now been published for primary schools. Documents for English, mathematics and science are now available to view on the Department for Education’s website to allow for informal consultation.

Reaction so far to the mathematics curriculum has been mixed. The inclusion of Roman numerals has attracted particular attention in the newspapers, along with memorising multiplication tables all the way up to 12 times 12 (CXLIV of course). Whether or not being able to count like the Romans did should be an educational priority is a moot point. Read More »

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Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

By Anji Hunter, Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering | Published: 28/06/2012

From large scale power and water infrastructure to the nanotechnology and bioengineering that are beginning to enhance our daily lives, the products of engineering are ubiquitous in modern society. This makes it a subject of huge importance to the global economy, and to humanity as a whole.

Yet, we take much of this for granted. It is perhaps time engineering is better acknowledged for its contributions, not only to improving our quality of life, but the contribution that investment in technology and engineering projects  makes to  growth. In 2009, UK industry contributed 21% of the country’s GDP. Although UK engineering is highly successful, it is vital that it maintains its competitive position.

Read More »

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Science Question Time – Growth

By Guest Blogger | Published: 25/06/2012

18th June 2012 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 discussed the concept of economic growth, and how science and innovation can help to deliver it.

You listen to the full debate on our SoundCloud page.

Read More »

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Ministry of Defence demotes science

By Prof Hugh Griffiths | Published: 03/05/2012

January saw CaSE publish a scorecard, in response to a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry into Chief Scientific Advisers in Government. This scorecard, and the narrative that went with it, assessed the degree of independent scientific advice provided to Government departments. Read More »

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Innovation – a problem for British universities?

By Dr Peter Dean, Cambio | Published: 26/04/2012

“BACK in the 1970s, as biochemist at Liverpool University, I was fairly certain that none of my colleagues knew the meaning of innovation. Scientists were ‘supposed’ to study science – not invent, patent, or take products into the marketplace.

As for control of Intellectual Property – well, there was none. Research discoveries were reported on an ad hoc basis to a senior administrator. He and his committee would decide what, if anything, to do with an invention.

The ‘innovation’ process was foreign and, I suspect, somewhat distasteful to the academics in my department – if not throughout academia. For example, I and a colleague invented the ‘Backfriend’ orthopaedic support. We funded the start of a company (Medesign) ourselves without any support from the university. Read More »

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Research Funding – how do we stack up internationally?

By Lisa Raffensperger | Published: 20/04/2012

Introduction

After the recent budget it’s clear (if it were ever in doubt) that the government is casting its lot with ‘business as usual’, rather than science and engineering, to stimulate an economic recovery. The “biggest sustained reduction in business tax rates for a generation”, announced in Osborne’s address, far overshadows the £160m for new research investment.

But the status of science and business in UK appropriations is hardly a product of just this Government – or even just this decade. To demonstrate, let’s examine the most recent BIS science, engineering and technology statistics – specifically, the bits on how the UK’s research spending has changed over the years, and how that spending stacks up against other G7 countries (and the UK’s main research competitors). Read More »

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Changes to UK immigration rules

By Caron Pope, Fragomen LLP | Published: 19/04/2012

Introduction

New Immigration Rules took effect on 6 April that will change the way that research centres, universities and other employers recruit workers from outside of Europe.  More changes are due on 14 June 2012.

The extensive set of changes touched on every area of policy for Tier 2 migrants, the ‘skilled worker’ category.  There has been a lot of change, and staff in HR, the individual employees and their recruiting managers could be forgiven for losing track. Read More »

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