Africa History: Fwd: Royal Society policy newsletter November 2014

Monday 3 November 2014

Fwd: Royal Society policy newsletter November 2014

Policy projects, publications and events

Dear Subscriber,

As MPs return to Westminster - read our round up of the big themes at the conferences below - we're heading to Bangalore for the first Commonwealth Science Conference in nearly fifty years where we'll be launching a report exploring how action now can increase human resilience to extreme weather around the world.

Closer to home, we are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the creation of the role of Government Chief Scientific Adviser with a joint event reflecting on the past, present and future of scientific advice, and we are holding a policylab with MEPs to better understand how the research community can support them in their roles. I hope you can join us.

Tony McBride
Director, Science Policy Centre

Highlights

Out soon - new report on how societies can be prepared for extreme weather Over the past two years a Royal Society working group has been investigating how we can reduce the impact of weather events on people across the world. Their findings are intended to help inform policy-makers' decisions at a local, national and global level. We're launching on 27 November.

Emma Woods tells us how the project has evolved.

How can environmental observation benefit the UK? A new project commissioned by the Government Office for Science looks at technologies which observe the environment to assess where the technology is now and how it might be used in future. Project chair, Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, tells us more.

GM and the precautionary principle
Professor Ottoline Leyser FRS gave evidence to the Commons Science & Technology Committee inquiry into GM foods and application of the precautionary principle in Europe. This first session also took evidence from Professor Sir David Baulcolmbe FRS, Greenpeace and GM Freeze. Watch the session here and follow the rest of the inquiry here.

Political chat
Fresh from the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences where we were joined by politicians to talk about UK research and education, we've summed up the discussions.

Talking science in India The Royal Society is working with the Government of India to hold the first Commonwealth Science Conference for nearly 50 years in Bangalore this November. Bringing together scientists from across the Commonwealth, speakers include Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society and Professor CNR Rao FRS, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

Improving data on diversity
In our report earlier this year, A picture of the UK Scientific Workforce, we identified that links between existing datasets need improving to give a better picture. We are holding a meeting jointly with the Royal Academy of Engineering to explore how to do this. Email diversity@royalsociety.org for more information.