Blogs

The UK Government Office for Science, headed by Sir Mark Walport, has published its 2014 annual report.  It covers the functions of the office, including the key workstreams for 2013-14:

• science, big data, analytics and the City [of London] - creating a new alignment [use of big data in finance]
• opening up scientific research data [G8 and open data]
• Alan Turing Institute [UK research capabilities in data science]
• Climate change; science and communication [there was also a House of Commons committee report on this in 2013]
• Chief Scientific Adviser's forthcoming report on innovation, risk and regulation
• security
• flooding
• horizon scanning [there was another parliamentary committee report on this as well]
• foresight - manufacturing, city futures, demographic change, ageing society, computer trading in financial markets, and migration and global environmental change.

The UK government has responded to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's inquiry on Women in Scientific Careers.  The government response highlights various initiatives - the recent Call to Action; the Equality Challenge Unit; Athena Swan and a range of others.  Much of the response points to these, to the activities of RCUK, and to the independent role of universities in deciding on initiatives to foster scientific careers for women.

The UK parliament's House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has published the report of its inquiry on Women in Scientific Careers.  Key points:

• Despite imperatives and attempts to improve the under-representation of women, only 17 per cent of STEM professors are women.
• The UK economy needs more STEM workers and cannot meet the demand without increasing the numbers of women in STEM.
• The lack of gender diversity in STEM is the result of perceptions and biases combined with the impracticalities of combining a career with family.
• Diversity and equality training should be provided to all STEM undergraduate and postgraduate students. It should also be mandatory for all members of recruitment and promotion panels and line managers.
• Early career short term contracts are a barrier to job security and continuity of employment rights. This career stage coincides with  many women considering starting families - they are more likely than men to end their STEM career at this stage.
• Government should work with the higher education sector to review the academic career structure and increase the number of longer-term positions for post-doctoral researchers.