Blogs

A useful overview article in Yale environment360 on citizen science and social media.

The report and response on the impartiality of BBC coverage of science has been published - commissioned by the BBC Trust.  Interesting reading overall, with a conclusion of a high quality of coverage, but areas for improvement.  In broad terms there is a need to improve the appropriate weight given in terms of the scientific consensus (where this exists) in areas of controversy - so how pro and con views on human-induced climate change are given. A lot of detail and case studies over a particular time period in evidence.  One slight oddity is that it does not appear that wildlife/nature programming is considered as science: perhaps this is because the scientific basis is not explicit to the layperson?

Further convergence on a common research impact agenda for the UK in a joint statement from the UK research councils (RCUK), higher education funder (HEFCE) and universities (UUK).  The statement reads:   /...more

../ The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Universities UK (UUK) have a shared commitment to support and promote a dynamic and internationally competitive research and innovation base that makes an increased and sustainable contribution, both nationally and globally, to economic growth, wellbeing, and the expansion and dissemination of knowledge.

Building on established research excellence, and on the infrastructure for knowledge exchange that has been developed over the last decade, we are committed to working together to continue embedding throughout the research base a culture in which excellent research departments consistently engage with business, the public sector and civil society organisations, and are committed to carrying new ideas through to beneficial outcomes, across the full range of their academic activity.

HEFCE, RCUK and UUK agree that the range of benefits that can flow from excellent research, and the variety of means by which those benefits are achieved and felt in different contexts, are broad and diverse. Benefits can result from an individual piece of research, or from a body of activity conducted over a period and perhaps across several departments or universities. They can take a wide variety of forms, and may become fully apparent some time after the underpinning research from which they flow was conducted. They may be apparent in an industrial or business context, in the fields of healthcare and social wellbeing, public policy or as a contribution to cultural life, public debate or improved understanding of the world that we live in. The responsibility for achieving these outcomes is shared by both the funders of research and the higher education institutions where the research takes place. Therefore, these outcomes should be recognised and rewarded through funding mechanisms, career development and the management of research.

Through engagement with UUK and the HE sector, and building on the progress that has already been made, HEFCE and RCUK will continue to work together to develop common frameworks, including by:

• ensuring that our approaches to supporting knowledge exchange are joined up
• securing greater impact from publicly funded research whilst ensuring our funding policies are complementary and work coherently together
• ensuring that our monitoring, assessment and evaluation as well as the collection of statistical data from HEIs is proportionate.
• supporting the training of new researchers, at both PhD and post-doctoral level, to ensure that they acquire the skills and expertise needed to maximise the impact of their own research. This includes the development and application of professional skills in knowledge exchange within the research base.

The UK Government Office for Science published its Review 2010-11

NERC has published the Review of Taxonomy and Systematics in the UK, including a proposed strategic direction for the future.  Formal UK government/funders response expected in July.