Parl magazine spring 05

Parl MAGAZINE Spring 05 8/3/05 9:02 am Page 12 STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS (Sir Isaac Newton 1676)
MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENTARY AND SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON MONDAY 15THNOVEMBER 2004 Gordon Brown’s canny science investment helps the UK Ltd’s innovative industries retain world class status andattract school leavers considering science and technology. The money is now in place but what do the the UKScientific and Engineering Community intend to do about it? Our 65th birthday provides an opportunity toconsider the drivers and future direction of UK Science and Engineering. We need to lay out our objectives andbegin to allocate the new resources created by the Chancellor’s investment if it is not to be squandered onincreased bureaucracy.
The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee provides a successful and dynamic model for bringing science andpolitics together in a Parliamentary context. George Smith presents his view of the challenges facing the exciting,unpredictable and largely undiscovered potential of the materials world. David King considers Global Change ismore important than Terrorism and provides insights into how this affects policy and scientific investment. JuliaKing lays out her strategy at Imperial College where she directs 10 world class Engineering Departments.
A Personal Perspectiveon UK ScientificResearch Professor George SmithHead, Department of Materials, Oxford University, andChairman, Polaron plc. Science in Parliament Vol 62 No 1 Spring 2005 Parl MAGAZINE Spring 05 8/3/05 9:02 am Page 13 Society, interviewed by The Guardian, potential. That’s not possible today.
anything. Scientists are losing the freedom to be impartial. Originality (Don Braben, Materials Today, October (Peter Cotgreave, Director, Save British Science, quoted in THES, 16 July 2004) (Ian Haines, chair of the UK Deans of (Paul Cottrell, assistant general secretary of the AUT, THES, November 12 2004) (Bill Gates, briefing the first Director of Note: The opinions expressed in this article are, unless otherwise stated, purely those of the author, and do not represent theofficial views of any organisation to which he is affiliated. Science in Parliament Vol 62 No 1 Spring 2005 Parl MAGAZINE Spring 05 8/3/05 9:02 am Page 14 STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
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Impacts of a ChangingClimate on GovernmentPolicy Professor Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser Isee climate change as the ever recorded in Britain occurred Association of British Insurers time, global average sea levelsare also predicted to rise, by Science in Parliament Vol 62 No 1 Spring 2005 Parl MAGAZINE Spring 05 8/3/05 9:02 am Page 15 levels of action are required.
First of all, the Kyoto Protocol, 1 http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page6333.asp UNEP/DEWA~Europe, 2004, "Impacts of summer 2003 heat wave in Europe", Early Warning on Emerging Environmental Threats 2, http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/publication/ 3 Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003, Peter A. Stott, D. A. Stone & M. R. Allen, Nature 432, 610–614 (2004); 4 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Science in Parliament Vol 62 No 1 Spring 2005 Parl MAGAZINE Spring 05 8/3/05 9:02 am Page 16 STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
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Dr Julia KingPrincipal, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London “how will a person use this” is a key networks for the foreseeable future.
But Cinderella does get to the ball.
Science in Parliament Vol 62 No 1 Spring 2005 Parl MAGAZINE Spring 05 8/3/05 9:02 am Page 17 by sixteen our impact on the planet.
References
1 T. Homer-Dixon “The Ingenuity Gap” Vintage 2 Nature 422, 243 (20th March 2003)Canada, 2001
In discussion the following points were made:
Investment in innovative science and engineering penalises research institutes that undertake routine environmentalmonitoring required by the Hadley Centre to predict global warming impacts. Investment should be divided betweenacademia, industry and the research institutes. Cost benefit analyses are needed before additional levels of regulation areimposed on researchers. There is no comparable research assessment exercise in the USA. The London market is too shortterm, and this has negative impacts on science compared with government-led tax incentives, as in Singapore and innovativebusiness clusters in the USA, requiring a culture change in the UK. Action on global warming is needed immediately ifLondon is to survive for 1000 years! Science in Parliament Vol 62 No 1 Spring 2005

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