31/01/07 Scientific infrastructure
CaSE today urged the Government not to cut funding for a crucial part of the UK's scientific infrastructure. In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, CaSE argues that the British Library cannot be seen merely as an 'arts' establishment, but is an important repository of knowledge that should be adequateky funded.

The text of the letter is as follows:

The arguments about how the British Library’s budget might be affected by the Olympics, and other factors relating to arts and culture (Daily Telegraph, January 29), miss a large part of the point of what the institution is for.

It is not just a home for old books (worthwhile though that is), but is also a reference point for a much wider range of knowledge, including modern books, journals and databases in the fields of science, engineering, business and technology. Regardless of the Library’s historic cultural value, the UK should be expanding, not cutting, the funding of the nation’s repository of knowledge. The Chancellor and Prime Minister have repeatedly said they want the UK to have a successful ‘knowledge economy’. They will find it hard to achieve this if the Government does not see the need for strong support of an important part of the country’s scientific infrastructure.

30/01/07 Economic impact of research
CaSE today welcomed the fact that the Research Councils appear to have downplayed the idea of watering down the criterion of scientific excellence in awarding grants. Commenting on the publication of a document entitled Increasing the economic impact of the Research Councils, CaSE's Director, Dr Peter Cotgreave, said "it is not immediately obvious exactly what is going to change, but there I cannot find a mention in this document of the proposal that Research Council grant-awarding panels should include so-called experts in economic impact. It was a stupid idea, and wholly inappropriate; it would have meant that instead of judging a grant application on whether the science was any good, the panel would have been second-guessing whether it might be of use to industry. Everybody with any sense wants to ensure that British science makes the maximum possible contribution to the economy, but this daft idea would have made things worse, not better. We're delighted that it seems to have been quietly lowered down the agenda."

30/01/07 University funding
CaSE today highlighted the need for greater clarity of purpose in research funding. Commenting in the Guardian, CaSE argues that the current funding system for research is not fit for purpose, and that developments in recent years have obscured the fundamental reasons for the different funding streams. CaSE argues that :"New demands on universities have not been met with appropriate levels of increased funding and the dual support system for research has not adapted to these demands. If we are serious about using higher education institutions as important drivers of economic, social, cultural and environmental development, we have to acknowledge that their share of public spending is not yet sufficient to the task."

30/01/07 Peter Cotgreave attended the Daily Telegraph 'Science Meets the Media' party at the Royal Society

30/01/07 Peter Cotgreave and Caroline Holland met with Dr Miles Eddowes of Unilever

25/01/07 Science in schools
CaSE's Advisory Council today urged the need for more ambitious action to rejuvenate the system of science in schools. Meeting in London, the Council members argued that the UK is losing ground to other economies and needs to take serious action to recover the situation. With a quarter of schools that teach 11-16 year-olds having no qualified physics teacher, and similar situation for chemistry, it is not possible to argue that the UK is producing enough high-quality graduates in the physical sciences. The Advisory Council is considering how best to use its collective authority to urge the Government to take action.

24/01/07 Innovation policy
CaSE was today delighted that MPs supported its position on innovation policies during a Parliamentary debate. During a debate on Government policies on innovation, a number of MPs from various sides spoke about the issues that CaSE had outlined in an advance briefing that CaSE had provided. "The MP leading the debate, Dr Ian Gibson, actually referred to CaSE's important efforts during his speech," said Dr Peter Cotgreave, "and a number of others made reference to the specific policy areas that we had raised in our notes - areas like using public procurement to support innovation, ensuring the education system can provide people skilled in science and engineering, and using the university system to support industrial research and innovation. These are important areas, and, as always, CaSE is at the forefront of the debate."

read CaSE's briefing note for MPs

read the debate

24/01/07 Funding scientific breakthroughs
CaSE today welcomed a report that admitted current funding mechanisms do not tend to support significant scientific breakthroughs.

read the press release

23/01/07 Future support for science education
CaSE today welcomed changes to the measurement of schools performance as a recognition that science cannot be allowed to decline in the education system. In an article in Innovation Policy Review, CaSE argues that forcing schools to report the number of children whose exam passes include mathematics ensures that schools will take the subject more seriously. "Some subjects are of crucial importance, and ... mathematics [is an] obvious example," says the article. "Hopefully, this new-found realisation that we need a proper balance oif subjects will spread to the university system, where for too long, funding has followed without check the decisions of ill-advised 18-year olds, who all seem to think they are going to get a fantastic job in the media without even bothering to learn anything about the vast array of modern technology on which modern communications rely".

19/01/07 Disjointed science base funding
CaSE today crticised the Government for considering the science base with a lack of joined-up thinking. Responding to the Office of Science & Innovation's consultation on the peer review of grant proposals, CaSE pointed out that nobody had taken a step backed and asked why the problems that had been identified had occurred in the first place. "One of the proposals for Research Council looks exactly like what the other half of dual support - investment from the Funding Councils - is supposed to provide - long term flexible support for the best researchers," said Dr Peter Cotgreave, Director of CaSE, "if the Research Councils feel the need to provide this, rather than consulting on their own peer review methods, the Government should be asking why the system is not doing what it was designed to do. One simple answer is that the balance between Research Council and Funding Council support has swung too far in one direction. Addressing that root problem is more important than adpating the peer review process". CaSE also criticised the suggestion that 'experts in economic impact' should sit on peer review panels, because that is the worst possible way of getting more economic benefits from the research base. "All it would do is temper judgements about quality with some arbitrary and innaccurate foresight, potentially lowering the overall standard of the research that is funded and certainly not adding anything to the UK economy," said Peter Cotgreave.

read CaSE's evidence to the consultation

18/01/07 Peter Cotgreave attended the Institute of Physics Awards Dinner

17/01/07 Economic competitiveness through science
CaSE today urged the Government to ensure that the UK supports science sufficiently to compete with emerging economies. Speaking in an interview for Sky News, CaSE's Director, Dr Peter Cotgreave, said that it was possible that within his lifetime, the UK could fall behind the first rank of economic nations if it did not keep pace scientifically and in engineering and technology. He pointed out that the world now has many more serious competitor nations than there were in the past, and if we wanted to ensure that we kept up with science in Far East and in the longer term in South Africa and Brazil and other countries, we could not afford to rest on our scientific laurels. He added: ""Over the last ten years British investment in science, as a proportion of our national wealth, has stayed the same. But China's has more than doubled. The only thing we can do in order to have a successful economy in the coming decades is to invent things that other people are prepared to pay for. That means being good at science and good at engineering. If we do not do that then it is difficult to see what our economy is going to be based on."

17/01/07 Science Minister
CaSE today welcomed the new Science Minister's commitment to science and his vision of a ministry that influenced science across Government. Responding to evidence given by Malcolm Wicks MP to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee, Dr Peter Cotgreave, Director of CaSE, said "the Minister clearly sees science not just in terms of his own departmental fiefdom, but as being important across other ministries, like Health, Environment and so on. At one point, he even referred to the Trade Department, where he sits, as the 'Science Ministry,' a clear signal that he intends to behave as if science has a central role, and is not just an add-on or optional extra."

12/01/07 Science in Wales
CaSE today called on the Welsh Assembly Government to rethink its decision not to put someone in overall change of implementing science policy in Wales. In an article in Agenda, the journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, CaSE points out that the First Minister's vision for research and the economy in Wales cannot become a reality of nobody is given the task of keeping their eye on the ball. "We know that Rhodri Morgan personally believes in the importance of science," the article says, because "he has appointed himself as Minister for Science, recognising not just the importance of the subject but the pan-Governmental nature of science policies". But CaSE calls on the Welsh Government to ensure that the Welsh economy can compete by attracting the best researchers and engineers. That will involve, among other things, closing the research funding gap between Wales and the rest of the UK.

05/01/07 Science policy for 2007
CaSE today set out some science policy priorities for 2007. Writing in Laboratory News, CaSE points out that the UK remains scientifically strong, but that we cannot be complacent, and the country must make significant progress across a number of areas. Prominent among these is the issue of science in schools, where the recuitment of high quality specialist teachers is top of the list. At university level, we must sort out the funding mess. To attract more private sector investment, we need to ensure that tax levels are competitive and that companies around the world fully understand the benefits of doing science and technology in the UK. Across Government, ministries need to make sure their public procurement activities do more to encourage innovation. "Crucially," the article concludes, "we must not take our research base for granted."