News & Views item - July 2010

 

 

Perhaps Some Useful Support for Science in Britain's New Coalition Government. (July 15, 2010)

Last week TFW reported that the UK Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, announced a one-year delay in the introduction of its Research Excellence Framework (REF) in order to review further the impact requirement and in a speech at the Royal Institution acknowledged that: "Some 95% of scientific research is conducted outside the UK. We need to be able to apply it here – and in advanced scientific fields, it is often necessary to conduct leading-edge research in order to understand, assimilate and exploit the leading edge research of others... The challenge is to use and improve existing methods for making the best use of our excellent science base to drive sustainable economic growth."

 

Now, in today's issue of Nature one of its editorials while admonishing that: "In today's tough climate, UK science must produce evidence to affirm its worth to the nation", it also sounds a note of optimism.

 

Over the next few weeks, the new Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government will initiate radical steps to cut the national deficit... Some damage to science is inevitable, but the picture is not unremittingly bleak.

 

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills — which includes the university base in its remit — has as its cabinet minister the Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, whose first degree was in natural sciences and economics at the University of Cambridge. Cable... has a son who, he says, "works in a particularly recondite area of quantum physics and is a one-man lobbying industry for scientific research". Cable is powerfully articulate, and in recent speeches has emphasized the need for Britain to deploy science as an engine of economic growth.

 

Nevertheless, Mr Willetts who as Universities and Science Minister serves under Mr Cable makes the point that in the imminent review of spending, a crucial goal will be to ensure that the science base is structured in a way that maximizes those impacts which he seeks to define prior to implementing the REF, and he emphasised that economic impact would be a primary consideration.

 

But there is also something of a mixed message since Mr Willetts also: "spoke approvingly of research showing that investment in research councils produces higher returns than initiatives such as research-and-development tax credits for the private sector (J. Haskel and G. Wallis CEPR Discussion Paper 7725; 2010, see http://go.nature.com/ZCMCat)."

 

Finally, the editorialist makes the point:

 

A key economic return lies in doctoral graduates who end up in successful careers outside research. A full analysis has yet to be done, but several recent reports and the statistics on longer-term destinations for young researchers indicate that their contribution to the broader economy is substantial. This is particularly the case for the mathematical sciences, which by comparison with the life sciences suffered from a lack of attention under the previous government.

 

Currently staff from Australia's Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research are making the rounds of the capitals of the five mainland states performing public information sessions regarding the Research Workforce Strategy consultation paper. Just what effect the final version of the report will have on the Federal Government's resourcing of higher degree by research (HDR) is a moot question.