Dr Claire Donovan, Brunel University, has written a report for the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport on A Holistic Approach to Valuing Our Culture. Recommendations on contextual validity of economic and non-economic approaches, the need for DCMS guidance, better tools (with reference to the AHRC Cultural Value Project) and access to studies.
The Deutscher Museums Bund has produced Recommendations for the Care of Human remains in Museums and Collections for use by German institutions. Commentary and links (in German) also available.
As part of the horizon-scanning processes of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a discussion paper on Scientific Research Integrity has been written by Marie-Andrée Jacob of Keele University. Their Forward Look archive is also available
The UK parliament's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has announced an inquiry on Scientific Infrastructure. In summary, the key questions are.../
The UK parliament's House of Commons Select Committee on International Development has published the report of an inquiry on Global Food Security, linked to the G8-linked UK/Brazil event on 8 June - Nutrition for Growth. The inquiry report is a high level review covering: more.../
with some reference to climate change. A low emphasis on genetic resources, ecosystem approaches - passing reference to GMOs and ground waters but nothing significant on new crops or wild relatives, pests, disease resistance, soils or more complex views of water security.
The UK Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) convened a Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Expert Taskforce as part of the response to the outbreak of Ash dieback disease caused by Chalara. The Taskforce final report recommendations are..../
Two useful sites on informal science learning: Relating Research to Practice on informal science learning research resources; and the Centre for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) for a wide range of resources, wikis and other material.
Cameron et al. in PNAS Early Edition - widespread decline of some bumblebee species in the US was shown by the comparison of current ranges from a three-year observation on 16,000 specimens with ranges inferred from 73,759 museum specimens. Higher Nosema and lower current genetic diversity in declining species than in stable species. Would be good to look at genetics of museum specimens, but not covered in this paper.
