curation

Jo Johnson

The man behind the minister

Meet Jo Johnson, the new Minister of State for Universities and Science. He took over this week from Greg Clark, who was promoted to Secretary for State. He was given a scathing review in The Guardian for being a minister for science who apparently knows nothing about science.

So who exactly is Jo Johnson? And why does he bear an uncanny resemblance to another blonde and floppy haired conservative MP… Read on to find out more.

10 things you always wanted to know about the Minister for Universities and Science

1. Yes, his big brother IS Boris and they’re pretty close.

2. He gave TED talk in India and got rave reviews.

3. He’s a cricket fan.

4. He’s partial to village fetes that come complete with scarecrow competitions.

5. He’s fond of business, which is useful as he’s to report to Business secretary Sajid Javid.

6. He writes a quarterly newsletter, which you can read here and sign up to here.

7. Before becoming an MP, Jo worked for 13 years as a journalist for the Financial Times.

Jo Johnson in the FT

The FT quote

Here is his FT blog.

8. He studied in France and Belgium for his two postgraduate degrees and was at Oxford for his undergraduate.

9. He’s pro Britain staying in the EU and it’s benefits for universities and science.

“Britain’s universities are a globally competitive export sector and well-placed to make a greater contribution to growth. With economic growth at a premium, the UK should be wary of artificially hobbling it.”

10. He’s a published author of not only one, but two books which can be bought here on Amazon.

Well Jo Johnson, let’s see what you can do for Universities and Science in the next five years shall we?

What is science research fairness and can it be achieved?

Last week I attended an event run by the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) at The Wellcome Trust. It was all about setting down ground rules for what research fairness is, what it should look like and how it could go about happening.

They published a letter in The Lancet in the run up to the event, which can be read here for some background first.

I’ve brought together a listicle of 5 tweets, quotes and facts from the conference as a summary of the two days:

1. Who was there?

About 100 people – scientists, researchers, government ministers (for example,  Mario Montejo who is the Honorable Minister for Science and Technology from the Philippines was present) and funders (Merck, Pfizer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc) – gathered for the two day conference, from all across the globe.

2. Why was this meeting needed?

Carel Ijsselmuiden, executive director of COHRED summed up why the conference happened:

“This meeting was about one: establishing need … which we clearly did, and two: outlining the ‘domains’ that should be measured … which we also achieved.”

His hope was that by the end of the conference, ‘domains’ which were in essence, some measurable aims and objectives of ‘what is fairness’ and how that would be charted on an index, would be established and set in stone.

The need for research fairness across the globe at the conference wasn’t disputed. No one there disagreed that ‘fairness’ is a good idea theoretically. Fairness in research allows the global south to play on the same pitch as the global north and big funders. The overall aim is to have the same research opportunities and funding available for scientists globally.

3. So what exactly is the COHRED fairness index?

COHRED’s hope for the end of the conference was to produce a research fairness index (known as the COHRED Fairness Index #CFI), a sort of certification scheme, that would be applied to research institutes and funders to show just how fair their funding and research relationship is. Essentially, their idea was to create a scheme that would encourage and “sustain fair research and innovation.” Many said fairness was an absolute necessity, and even overdue. It’s just that no-one could agree how this would look in reality.

4. But what is research fairness?

Well this was never quite answered in the conference. Fairness means different things to different people, and it seems it can mean different things depending on whether you’re a scientist or a funder.

Fairness might look like simply more training for a global south researcher, rather than more money or funding. But, some were arguing for more money for the global south as well as more and better research training.

The problem with an index, is that it can sometimes lead to “naming and shaming”, rather than encouraging good behaviour. COHRED want their index to be a “mechanism that would encourage improvement of practices in international collaborative research partnerships for health” instead.

5. So what happens next?

COHRED are planning to launch a final polished version of the Index in October. They’re currently looking for funders and scientists who are in partnership to trial it out. There’s still some ambiguity about what the final index version will look like, but a pilot example is looking likely come October 2015.

Science Matters: Or at least why politicians think it does

The British Science Association organised interviews with science spokespeople from six of the major parties. The Science Matters series includes in-depth interviews hosted by science journalist Susan Watts with representatives from the Conservative Party, Green Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and Scottish National Party (SNP) to explain how voters would see a difference if their party were in charge of science after the election.

Top three priorities if _______________ were in charge:

Conservatives SNP Green Labour Plaid Cymru Liberal Democrats - science priorities

Interviewees & youtube clips:

For more on where the political parties stand on science and research funding, check out this post.

General Election 2015: Where do the parties stand on science & engineering?

Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) contacted Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) running in the General Election and invited them to share why science and engineering is important to the UK and how they would support this as a Member of Parliament.

CaSE has received over 100 responses so far. Below are 7 quotes representing responses of candidates from the 7 main political parties (in no particular order).

 

Labour

 

 

Antonia Zenkevitch, Green

Antonia Zenkevitch, Green

 

Neil Wilson, Conservative

Neil Wilson, Conservative

 

Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat

Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat

 

Roger Mullin, Scottish National Party (SNP)

Roger Mullin, Scottish National Party (SNP)

 

Philip Hyde, UKIP

Philip Hyde, UKIP

 

Tim Thomas, Plaid Cymru

Tim Thomas, Plaid Cymru

Check out this post for more election coverage concerning science and research funding.

Need research funding? Here are 5 links to top tips!

With so much competition for research grants, it couldn’t hurt to have a little help. I scoured twitter for some of the best tips for applying for science funding.

1. Ingrid Eisenstadter is director of grants for The Eppley Foundation for Research in New York. She has, in her 25 years on the job, seen thousands of grant proposals and has penned a few key tips in this blog post.

2. More and more researchers are turning to crowd funding for their projects. Here are some tips to setting up a platform to do that.

3. The Guardian put together these 10 tips for applying for research funding.

4. Dr Claire McNulty is the Director of Science and Research at the British Council and provides some advice on applying to funding schemes

5. and finally for a bit of light reading when you’re taking a break from your grant application. This might just give you some out-of-the-box ideas for securing that Moola.

https://twitter.com/hoeflingern/status/528140992809938945

19 Twitter accounts to follow to keep up with science research funding #SciPolicy

This is a place to start with knowing where money is going in science, what is being spent, who is spending it (or not) and what people generally think about it all.

You can follow the Twitter list here.

Science is Vital

@ScienceIsVital

Scientific research in the UK.

Scienceogram

@scienceogram

Some data about where money is being spent in science.

Research Fortnight

@ResFortnight

They tweet about current research funding and upcoming research funding opportunities.

James Wilsdon

@jameswilsdon

Blogger and professor of science and democracy at Science and Technology Policy Research.

Stian Westlake

@stianwestlake

Executive Director of Policy & Research at Nesta.

https://twitter.com/stianwestlake/status/565210830640545792

Research Councils UK

@research_uk

Current scientific research in the UK.

The MRC

@The_MRC

The research going into improving human health.

Wellcome Trust

@wellcometrust

A charitable foundation supporting all kinds of research.

BBSRC

@BBSRC

Biotechnology and bioscience research.

(Their Executive Director is Jackie Hunter @JHunterBBSRC)

ESRC

@ESRC

The UK’s main organisation for funding research.

Research Funding

@Research_Funds

Science and Tech research and funding opportunities.

EPSRC

@EPSRC

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Jon Tennant

@Protohedgehog

Palaeontologist and blogger with some interesting views.

CERN

@CERN

News about what is happening at the world’s largest particle physics lab.

Diamond Light Source

@DiamondLightSou

Research news from the UK’s national synchrotron science facility.

CaSE

@sciencecampaign

News from The Campaign for Science & Engineering.

Kieron Flanagan

@kieronflanagan

Teacher of research science & technology policy with a lot to say.

Sanger Institute

@sangerinstitute

Genome sequencing and medical science research news.

UAR: Animal Research

@animalresearch

The role of animals in scientific research.