“The leadership of the civil service can change if it wants to,” says the former Permanent Secretary for the Department of Education, Jonathan Slater. The most senior civil servant at the DfE from 2016-2020 across UK government, led an online seminar for CSaP’s Policy Fellows and network for Easter Term 2022.

How have scientists contributed to UK government decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic? In CSaP's Science and Policy Podcast, Dr Rob Doubleday was joined by Julia Gog, Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Cambridge, and Sir John Aston, Harding Professor of Statistics in Public Life.

For CSaP's Science and Policy Podcast, the Centre's Executive Director Dr Rob Doubleday was joined by Sir Oliver Letwin, a former Cabinet Minister, Professor Melissa Leach, Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, and Professor Dame Sally Davies, former Chief Medical Officer for England, to discuss how science advice was used by decision-makers during the Ebola Outbreak in 2014.

London-based professor, Dr Veronika Kapsali, delivered CSaP’s final Future Leaders Fellows seminar to discuss how biology can help design materials for resource efficiency, longevity, and recovery (RELR). Dr Kapsali presented her work on an AHRC-funded initiative she leads - Bio-Inspired Textiles (BIT) - that aims to identify the potential for nature-inspired design in textile development.

The University of Cambridge's 2022 Dr Seng Tee Lee Lecture was delivered by Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Harvard Kennedy School in the U.S. Her talk at St John's College, Cambridge, concerned how the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the nature of our current model of trust, the political nature of expert institutions, and state-level differences in public reasoning.

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow Dr. Sadie Watson led a CSaP seminar on the relationship between development-led archaeology and public benefit. Her research at the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) aims to establish project design strategies that will maximise the social value of future development-led archaeology projects.

A Psychology and Education Professor from the University of Cambridge outlined the importance of addressing and treating mental health problems early on, to help improve childhood outcomes and opportunities later in life. Gordon Harold delivered a seminar for CSaP’s Policy Leaders Fellows at Newnham College, Cambridge in March 2022.

The Centre for Science and Policy has launched a new podcast season discussing how science advice has been used by decision-makers in government. In the first episode, CSaP welcomes Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Harvard Kennedy School in the U.S.

Which scientific voices are heard in government? How does one voice or many shape information that is informing decision making? In a CSaP podcast episode, host Dr Rob Doubleday, was joined by Jon Agar, Professor of Science and Technology Studies at UCL, and Dr Claire Craig, Provost at The Queen's College, Oxford. 

The University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor's Lecture was held on 01 March 2022 and was delivered online by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization. The lecture series, which engages partners from CEENRG and CSAP as well as CISDL and others, is driven by the urgency to inspire and innovate the world’s best and brightest minds.