Report of the two day Biodiversity Knowledge Politics workshop jointly hosted by CSaP and CRASSH

On 3 May 2012 the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) held a professional development policy seminar, in partnership with the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) and the Cambridge Institute of Public Health (IPH).

On 8 March 2012 – the very day that the BBC declared that solar storms threatened to “wreak havoc with satellites or power grids” – many of the UK’s top risk experts were attending the CSaP conference on Risk and Uncertainty, organised in partnership with the Willis Research Network and sponsored by the IET and Lloyd’s.

The importance of science in public policy has long been recognised, however there is growing debate over how this is best achieved.

The Centre has announced the first group of Policy Fellows for the Easter Term 2012, together with the dates of their initial visits to Cambridge in April, May and June.

For diseases like TB, logistical and societal factors may be larger barriers to treatment than either drug innovation or affordability. Julia Fan Li outlined the role that entrepreneurship can have in helping to overcome these challenges.

Overly intelligent computers and robots could cause an ecological catastrophe marking the end of human existence. Not the plot of a science fiction film, but the warning delivered by Jaan Tallinn about the dangers of unmitigated technological advances in Artifial Intelligence, in the first CSaP Distinguished Lecture of 2012.

The recent Icelandic eruptions have catapulted volcanologists to the forefront of policymaking. What can be done to predict these devastating eruptions? And how do we sensibly manage the risks?

There are certain practical realities when it comes to bringing the implications of research to the attention of policy makers. To discuss these and more, the Centre for Science and Policy ran a roundtable meeting of selected individuals from Whitehall and the University of Cambridge on 25 January.

In December, CSaP and the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge co-hosted a Professional Development Policy Seminar for early-career engineers. Co-sponsored by the IET, 32 researchers from 7 universities heard from engineering experts and policy professionals on the opportunities and realities of engaging with policy. For Marcus Pelenu, a PhD student at the Centre for Sustainable Development, Department of Engineering, this seminar resulted in a work placement in the Cabinet Office.