As cuts to public expenditure are ramping up, demand for public services and economic growth remains as high as ever. Pressure to deliver more for less is resulting in an increased focus on innovation – in the way that public services and the economy are provided, supported and managed.

To discuss science in Parliament, we invited Dr Evan Harris and Dr Julian Huppert to deliver our fourth Distinguished Lecture.

A number of key posts in Government are held by people who spent most of their careers as academics. These advisers and policy makers are brought into the civil service because of the knowledge that they bring to policy issues, even if they do not have a practical knowledge of policy. Consequently, the transition from university academic to government civil servant can be quite a challenge.