Professor Dame Angela McLean, Chief Scientific Adviser in the Ministry of Defence, delivered the inaugural CSaP Annual Cleevely Lecture, during which she spoke on the theme of ‘How to be a Chief Scientific Adviser in Government’.

The government's levelling up agenda has set aside funding, such as the towns fund, to help achieve this agenda. These funds require successful bids from local councils. After years of funding cutbacks, and skill losses, how do local regions bid for these funds, or develop the skills to bid?

Dr. Michiel Van Oudheusden discusses the countercultural origins of citizen science and how negotiations between citizens, experts, and others can prompt social change.

How is climate change affecting the most extreme and remote habitats on the planet, and how are scientists studying these changes? We explored these questions in the third episode of CSaP: The Science and Policy Podcast's series on Science and Policymaking for Antarctica, Space, and the Deep Ocean.

How can we measure success in the UK government’s efforts to implement a levelling up agenda? What frameworks could be used to hold the government to account, and how might the UK2070 commission play a role in this?

In the final episode of CSaP: The Science & Policy Podcast’s mini series on genetic technologies, host Dr Rob Doubleday and expert guests explored questions surrounding genetic technologies and human health. Throughout the episode, Dr Doubleday was joined by Dr Jonathan Roberts - who is currently a researcher in the Society and Ethics Research Group at the Wellcome Campus and a NHS Genetic Counsellor at Addenbrooke’s Hospital; the PHG Foundation's Alison Hall; and University of Cambridge sociologist Professor Sarah Franklin.

Wealth Economy attempts to measure ‘what matters’ - the ingredients of economic welfare – such as natural capital. Are there ways in which we can measure the value of so-called natural capital? How does natural capital intersect with other forms? We explored these questions and more as part of our seminar series on Levelling Up.

On the 9th of March, NERC-funded doctoral students attended the second workshop session in a two-part professional development programme hosted by the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP). The objective of this session was to give PhD students hands-on experience of delivering scientific advice to policymakers. Students were divided into groups and asked to produce policy briefings to be judged by a panel featuring Professor Sir David King, Professor Bill Sutherland and Sam Reed. This exercise was accompanied by presentations exploring speakers’ career trajectories in academia and policy.

In the third episode of CSaP: The Science & Policy Podcast's mini-series on genetic technologies, Dr Rob Doubleday and expert guests Professor Bill Adams and Dr Catherine Rhodes discussed gene drives, the implications of genetic technologies for conservation, biological conventions, and biological risks.

In the second episode of CSaP’s podcast miniseries exploring science and policy for space, deep ocean environments, and Antarctica, host Dr Rob Doubleday spoke with expert guests about the risks and policy questions posed by ways in which human interactions with and exploit these environments. We explored the risks and questions involved in deep sea mining, how scientists are managing the delicate balance between studying and protecting fragile environments, and the growing problem of space debris.