Industry Consultation On 1 July, we held our first industry consultation. The dinner was attended by 20 representatives from industry, trade associations and government departments, and chaired by Lord Wilson of Dinton. The purpose of the meeting was to gain an industrial perspective on the CSaP engagement programme, and to extend the CSaP network by building a group of industrial partners.

After the introduction, a wide ranging discussion followed which touched on issues such as the role that industry plays in policy making and academia, how industry can engage with scientists and policy makers more effectively, the role that CSaP could play in creating a "virtuous circle" of engagement, and how long-term goals are set and met and how timescales differ between academia, industry and policy.

We concluded that "joining up the triangle" between academia, policy and industry is something that CSaP should contribute to. We are therefore taking three key steps. First, we are extending our Policy Fellows programme to include industrial partners (see below). Second, we will consider the differing timescales in our project to explore the key unanswered questions on the relationship between science and policy (also see below). And third, we will continue to build our network of industrial partners and hold another industry consultation dinner in 2011.

Upcoming Workshops and SeminarsWe have a number of events coming up before the end of the year.

DECC workshop on behaviour and energy efficiency
The first of our workshops has been organised at the request of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). We are working with DECC and a number of leading experts from universities including Cambridge, Cardiff, UCL, East Anglia, Exeter, Lancaster and Sussex to generate new ideas for policies that will encourage people to change their behaviour to consume less energy. We have gathered a range of ideas about how to do this, which we will use a basis for discussion during the workshop. We'll let you know how it went in next month's newsletter.

Ecosystems services workshop
Following the success of CSaP's inaugural workshop in September 2009, which was run for Defra specialists on the issue of ecosystems services and valuation, we have been invited back to offer a follow-up workshop for other government departments and non-specialists. It will take place in October.

Innovation workshop
CSaP, in partnership with the UK Innovation Research Centre (itself a partnership between Cambridge and Imperial), is bringing together a group of leading experts on innovation policy, alongside civil servants responsible for large budgets and innovation policy, to discuss how the UK might deliver growth and a better society at a time of reduced resources. The workshop will take place in November.

Professional Development Policy Seminar
There is an argument that policy makers typically have a clearer idea about the research process than researchers have about the policy process (for the simple reason that most policy makers went to university where they were exposed to the research process, but most researchers have not worked in government). It could further be argued that this lack of knowledge about the policy process can manifest as a barrier to effective communication between researchers and policy makers.

In November, as a first step towards tackling this knowledge deficit in the academic community, CSaP is piloting a Professional Development Policy Seminar for early career researchers in the environment and energy sectors. If you qualify to take part, this is a great opportunity to meet scientists working in government and policy makers working on science briefs. You will learn about how research relates to public policy and how to maximise the impact of your research in a policy context. If you want to take part, please visit our website.