Newsletter — September/October 2012

Message from the Executive Director

Robert Doubleday

With the arrival of autumn, and the start of a new academic year, universities up and down the country are about to be invigorated by the annual influx of new students and researchers. This regular jolt of fresh ideas, enthusiasm, and ambition is an important part of what keeps universities dynamic.

CSaP has so far focused on building up networks of senior policy makers and academics. However, the best ideas don't come only from the most established academics. As CSaP enters its fourth year we are refreshing our own thinking through increasing our work with graduate students, early-career researchers and junior policy professionals.

This newsletter focuses on the growing part of CSaP's work on Professional Development and we have invited Dr Graeme Reid (CSaP Associate Fellow and Head of Research Funding at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) to write a commentary piece for our newsletter. In addition to our programme of Professional Development Policy Seminars, we are also proud to announce the launch of two major initiatives: our Junior Policy Fellowship Programme and policy placements with BIS.

Perhaps most exciting of all we welcome a new university society to the network. The Cambridge University Science and Policy Exchange (CUSPE) has been set up by graduate students and postdocs to promote exchange between early-career academics and government. We are delighted to be working with CUSPE and the next generation of policy professionals and researchers to support innovative, sustained and intelligent engagement.

Dr Rob Doubleday

A case study by Dr Graeme Reid, BIS

Graeme ReidIn a commentary piece written for this month's newsletter, Dr Graeme Reid, who has been a CSaP Associate Fellow for more than two years, describes the importance of building stronger links between universities and government, and how CSaP is "opening doors to new lines of thought and new ways of thinking" through its Fellowship programmes. He writes:

During the last decade or so, Government and universities have focused much attention on the relationship between business and academia in the UK. This has paid big dividends. A generation ago, we had the reputation of being good at science and no good at commercialising it. Many universities in this country are now earning international reputations for the excellence of their work with business. Only a few weeks ago, the World Economic Forum ranked university-business relations in the UK as second best out of 144 countries and ahead of the USA.

What about the relationship between universities and Government policy? Some areas of policy, such as health, defence and economics have long histories of academic collaboration. Interaction between academics and Government in the UK has grown steadily in scale and scope, boosted in recent years by the appointment of Chief Scientific Advisers in almost every Government Department. But many relationships have been dependent on the personal contacts of key individuals. Even working in science policy, as I have for parts of my career, it is not easy to build the breadth of academic contacts that I would like to have. That's where CSaP comes in.

The full case study can be found on our website.

Top Stories

Junior Associate Fellows start placements in BIS

Leila LuheshiAs described above, CSaP and Dr Graeme Reid have been exploring opportunities for early-career researchers at Cambridge to contribute to the policy process. One of three Cambridge researchers to be offered a placement, CSaP Junior Associate Fellow, Dr Leila Luheshi, who began her secondment on 19 September commented: "The opportunity to get first-hand experience of the policy development process, and to be involved in planning a strategy for how fundamental scientific research can be applied to tackle some of the great policy challenges of our time is extremely exciting. Working with the excellent team at the Research Base in BIS has already proved to be an eye-opening experience." Read the full story here.

Early-career policy makers join policy programme

Frank DaviesThis term, CSaP will be ramping up the pilot of a new Junior Policy Fellowships programme. Building on the success of the existing Fellowship (which is aimed primarily at the Senior Civil Service), the new scheme is designed to inspire the next generation of policy makers and researchers to build connections that will develop with them as they go forward in their careers. By selecting from the most promising junior policy professionals in government and industry and matching them up with the leading early-career researchers of their generation, it will create a joined-up cohort of ambassadors for the value of exchange between science policy. Two Junior Policy Fellows will make their first visits to Cambridge in the first term — Chris Ganje (Policy Advisor, BP) and Frank Davies (Consultation Team Lead, Child Poverty Unit). More...

Symposium highlights policy-relevant research

Delegates at the SymposiumOn 18 September, Cambridge University hosted the Biological and Life Sciences Symposium (SymBLS) which brought together Cambridge graduate students working in biological and life sciences, to showcase their research to an audience from academia, business and government. In addition to student presentations, invited speakers discussed the relationship between science and policy. The Symposium provided an opportunity for attendees to participate in discussions on how research both affects, and is affected by, the policy-making process, and gave insights into the quality and range of scientific work being carried out at the University. CSaP Policy Fellow, Graham Pendlebury (Department for Transport) commented: "The presentations and the conversations that I had brought home to me the cutting-edge nature of the research being done by young research teams in Cambridge, and the passionate enthusiasm they have for their work — immensely impressive. There were also fields of research that I could see had real relevance for government and industry as they develop." A write up of the event can be found here.

CONNECTIONS in science and policy

CUSPE logoOver the summer, a group of PhD students and post docs at the University of Cambridge have been working together to establish a new science and policy society — the Cambridge University Science & Policy Exchange (CUSPE). The society, founded by CSaP Junior Associate Fellows, will build on the success of the CONNECTIONS lecture series, which brings prominent speakers to the University to discuss topical policy issues. CUSPE will focus on building stronger links between early-career researchers at Cambridge and government policy officials, both within the UK and the European Union. CSaP Junior Associate Fellow, and Founding President of CUSPE, Alberto Garcia-Mogollon, said: "CUSPE is the first initiative of its kind at Cambridge University. It will strive to support early-career researchers who want to influence policy from an innovative research perspective as well as those who wish to pursue careers in government. The CUSPE Committee is very pleased to join efforts with CSaP in order to promote the importance of science and technology in policy making."

Professional Development Policy Seminars

CSaP continues its series of seminars for early-career researchers, introducing them to the opportunities and the realities of engaging with policy.

  • 31 October 2012: The next Policy Seminar in the Professional Development Series has been designed for an audience of early-career technology researchers, and will be held in Cambridge. Confirmed panellists include: Professor Muffy Calder, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland; Mr Michael Eaton, Welsh Government Assembly; Mr Liam Maxwell, Deputy Government Chief Information Officer; Professor Chris Hankin, Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology, Imperial College London; Dr Sally Howes, National Audit Office; Professor Ian Leslie, University of Cambridge; Professor Jim Norton, Immediate Past President of BCS. For more information on how to apply, please click here.
  • 6 December 2012: The Royal Academy of Engineering is hosting this Policy Seminar for early-career engineers. Confirmed panellists include: Professor Brian Collins, Faculty of Engineering Science, University College London; Dr Tom Counsell, Department for Energy and Climate Change; Dame Sue Ion and Richard Ploszek, Royal Academy of Engineering; Dr Graeme Reid, BIS. For more information on how to apply, please click here.

For more information on the CSaP Professional Development and Events programmes, please contact Jackie Ouchikh, Head of Programmes.

CSaP Distinguished Lectures

Dominique RistoriThis term, Dominique Ristori, DG of the EC's Joint Research Centre will deliver the CSaP Distinguished Lecture. The lecture (entitled "Science and Policy — the view from inside the European Commission") will take place at Churchill College on 18 October. For more details and to register your attendance, please click here.

Further details of CSaP Distinguished Lectures can be found here. To see the full list of events for this term please follow the link here.

Cambridge Public Policy (CPP)

Cambridge Public PolicyThe Cambridge Public Policy Initiative is delighted to announce David Howarth as the first Director of the new Master's Course in Public Policy (MPP). David, Former MP for Cambridge, Reader in Private Law at the University and a founding member of the Cambridge Public Policy Initiative, will take up the appointment on 1 October. This term we also welcome Mark Goodwin, Mellon Post Doctoral Fellow in Public Policy. Both David and Mark will join the Department of Politics and International Studies.

Applications for the MPP opened on 1 September. We welcome applications from people with a good first degree or equivalent, a strong interest in public policy and preferably at least three years of work experience. Please see the application page on the CPP web site for more information. We are grateful to those organisations that have offered us MPP work placement projects thus far. These include YouGov, The GeoInformation Group, Cambridge Econometrics and AAA Science International (ASI). If you would like to contribute to the MPP work placement programme, support our student scholarship scheme or other aspects of our work please contact Miranda Gomperts.

News in Brief

Seminar & Lecture series

The CPP Seminar Series brings together a diverse range of individuals from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, to discuss the public policy implications of their work and research. CPP continues its series of lunchtime seminars this term on Tuesdays in October and November. For more information and to sign up to attend, please click here.

CPP has a distinguished line-up of speakers this term participating in its evening lecture programme. These include: Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions); Lord Young of Graffham; and Lord O'Donnell (former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service). For more information, please click here.

Policy Fellowships

Three more Policy Fellows have been elected and will make their initial visits to Cambridge in October and November — Mike Edbury (Head of Health and Environment, Government Office for Science), Virginia Murray, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection, Health Protection Agency, and David Mair (Head of Unit, Science Advice to Policy, EC Joint Research Centre).

Book launch

Dr Bill Janeway, member of the CSaP network, will launch his book "Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy" on 9 October. To register your place at this event please click here.

Policy Briefings

The latest policy briefings from the project "Conflict in Cities and the Contested State" — which has been a leader in research on divided cities as key sites in territorial conflicts over state and national identities, cultures and borders for nearly a decade — will be launched on 8 November, at King's College, London. For more information see www.conflictincities.org or email: Jenny Mallindine.

A debt of gratitude

CSaP would like to thank the David Harding Foundation and the Isaac Newton Trust for their donations which made the Centre's creation and continued work possible.