The Centre for Science and Policy research programme is gaining momentum. We are pleased to announce our involvement in a major new European Commission funded project on biodiversity science and policy.

The ‘Future Directions for Science Advice in Whitehall’ seminar series got off to a great start at the Institute for Government on 20 November, when panellists addressed a number of issues such as how to balance different types of evidence and value judgements, the seniority of CSAs within government departments, and the role of the media and House of Lords.

As the Policy Fellowships Programme for 2012 comes to an end, attention turns to the first new Fellows of 2013 who will make their initial visits to Cambridge in Lent Term. Howard Covington (Trustee of the Science Museum) is the first to be confirmed.

A team led by CSaP Policy Fellow Nathan Boublil has come out on top in this year’s Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK) competition, with a national prize for their ProjectPolicy.org website, an online, intuitive tool to help the world make sense of policy.

Communicate, join networks, develop lasting relationships and build trust: these were just some of the recommendations put forward by a distinguished line up of computer scientists and policy makers at the CSaP Professional Development Policy Workshop for early-career technology researchers on 31 October.