Tomorrow (30 August) sees the first conference dedicated to science blogging. ‘Science Blogging 2008: London’ will be held at the Royal Institution and is jointly organised by the RI, Nature Networks and DIUS.

The conference will bring together science bloggers worldwide to explore issues in science research, science communication, public engagement and education. Participants will explore whether blogging can contribute to scientific research and careers. Can blogs contribute to the public understanding of science? What can science bloggers do to maximise the impact of their blogs?

This is a great chance to meet others blogging about science and learn more about this growing area of science communication.

Find out more about the conference and register on the Science Blogging website.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has today launched a new strategy for the UK’s Capital, aimed at better preparing the city and its people for the challenges of climate change. The strategy is claimed as a first for a world city.

Measures outlined in the strategy include measures to ‘green’ London; including the use and design of green spaces, green roofs and tree-planting to reduce water run-off and flooding, and greater preparedness for extreme weather events expected under climate change, specifically flooding, drought and heatwaves. There are plans to increase public awareness of flood risk in the capital, alongside a promotion, and compulsory introduction, of water metering to reduce water consumption.

Launching the strategy, the Mayor commented: “the range of weather conditions facing London…could seriously threaten our quality of life…and endanger our pre-eminence as one of the world’s leading cities”. The Mayor’s manifesto included an ambitious target to cut London’s carbon emissions by 60% by 2025.

Organisations are invited to comment on the first draft of the strategy. As a result of these comments, a second draft will be published for public consultation in 2009.

Access the Mayor’s website with official press release and the draft strategy

Two conferences are taking place in the next two weeks which may be of interest to readers of the Blog….

The BES Annual Meeting and AGM

The BES is holding its annual meeting next week, from 3 – 5 September (student session 2 September) at Imperial College, South Kensington, London. It is not too late to register for the event: simply turn up on the day you would like to attend and make your way to the registration desk. Day registration costs £100 for BES members, £160 for non-members and £70 for students.

Several talks are highly relevant to policy and there is a dedicated ‘Special Session’ on Thursday 4th September, organised by the BES and UK BRAG, bringing together policy-makers, ecologists and others to discuss the ecosystem approach. This will be followed by a networking drinks reception for participants.

Access full details of the BES meeting
Access the programme for the joint BES – UK BRAG session on the ecosystem approach

IALE (UK) Annual Conference

The International Association for Landscape Ecology (UK) is holding its annual conference at the University of Cambridge from 8 – 11 September.

To find out more and to register, visit the IALE website.

Defra’s Science Advisory Council has announced an Open Meeting on 28 October 2008, to provide the opportunity for delegates to find out more about how the Council works, and to explore the biggest challenges faced by Defra.

The Science Advisory Council was established in 2004 and provides independent scientific advice to Defra’s Chief Scientific Advisor and to Government Ministers.

The meeting will examine:
· Defra’s Evidence Programme – establishing the major evidence challenges Defra is facing and the future research and development activities needed to tackle these,
· The Council’s role in continuing to provide the best possible independent strategic science advice to Defra,
· Current animal health issues, including an update on work to identify research gaps and priorities for the control of Bluetongue.

Professor John Beddington, Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor will address the meeting on “Key Science Challenges across Government”.

The meeting is free to attend but pre-registration is essential.
Register for the event at Defra’s website.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has established a ‘Research and Media Network’ to link together researchers, journalists, science communicators, policy-makers and others with an interest in research, policy and sustainable development. The social network now boasts over 1000 members in 100 countries.

View the network and sign up.

The latest round of UN climate change negotiations began yesterday in Accra, Ghana, and will conclude on 27 August. The talks mark an important step between the negotiations in Bali last year and the 2009 convention on climate change, to take place in Copenhagen, aimed at negotiating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

Writing in this week’s Climate-L.ORG Bulletin, the Executive Secretary to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Yvo de Boer, outlines his hopes for the Accra conference, stating that “careful progress” has been made since 2007, with meetings in Bangkok in March this year and in Bonn, Germany, in June.

Mr de Boer says that the Ghana meeting will provide an opportunity for work on the “rules and tools” that will be available to developed countries to meet future emissions reduction targets. Work will also continue on the main elements of the Copenhagen agreement through two focussed workshops. The first will be on policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in developing countries, encouraging sustainable forest management. The focus of the second will be on “cooperative sectoral approaches”, exploring the expansion of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism to cement and steel manufacture, and power generation: rolling out the sectoral approaches adopted in some countries within a universal agreement.

Mr de Boer stresses that the Accra talks are a significant step towards Copenhagen, with Governments having the opportunity to put concrete proposals on the table as to what could eventually be included in the 2009 agreement.

Link to original article: With the global house on fire, there is no time to lose at the UN Climate Change Talks in Accra

Link to official UNFCCC site: Accra Climate Change Talks 2008

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee yesterday published a report criticising the Government for doing too little to encourage recycling amongst businesses. The Committee encourage the Government to amend waste targets, shifting the focus from reducing the weight of domestic waste sent to landfill to addressing commercial and industrial waste. Producers must be encouraged to take responsibility for the amount of waste generated by their products, with financial penalties to encourage greater efforts amongst businesses to reduce this.

The report also calls on the Government to introduce variable VAT rates, reducing VAT on projects which use sustainable raw materials. The Committee also suggest the Government examine the VAT levied on repairs to products, encouraging consumers to repair electronic goods, for example, rather than throwing them away when broken. Electronic goods can often cost as much to repair as the same product would cost to buy anew.

The Committee expressed disappointment that the Government is cutting funding to waste-reduction programmes, such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), in 2008/09. Lord O’Neill, Chair of the Sub-Committee on Waste Reduction said: “This sends out entirely the wrong message at a time when reducing commercial waste both for economic and environmental reasons is more important than ever.”

The Committee are clear in their recommendation that Government focus must be on waste reduction, as well as re-use and recycling, to provide a long-term framework in which businesses are incentivised to improve the sustainability of their own practices.

Read full report: Waste Reduction (20 August 2008)

The Department for International Development (DFID) is looking to employ a Senior Research Fellow to design and implement research initiatives under a proposed new strategy.

The Senior Research Fellows will provide scientific leadership for DFID’s research priorities and assist with DFID’s engagement with the science, academic and policy research communities in international development and across UK government.

Research scientists with a background in any of the following fields are welcome to apply:

• Growth: economic policy and performance; investment and innovation; firm behaviour; trade policy; financial development; infrastructure and growth; private sector development
• Sustainable agriculture: natural resources management; agricultural productivity, crop breeding technologies including biotechnology; agricultural markets; plant science; bio-fuels for developing countries
• Climate change: climate science; low carbon growth paths and technologies; carbon markets; carbon capture and storage; local level adaptation strategies; ecosystems
• Health and education: service delivery; health systems and financing; poverty and nutrition; drugs and vaccines for chronic and infectious diseases; maternal mortality; health and climate change; educational quality, access and results; education and growth
• Governance in challenging environments: conflict, state fragility and social cohesion; social exclusion and inequality; state-building; migration
• New and emerging technologies: nanotechnology; role of systems biology in development; rapid diagnostic devices; information and communications technology; advanced energy technologies for developing countries

Further job particulars will be available from the 1st September. To have the job particulars sent directly to you, please register your interest by sending your contact details to DFIDrecruitment8@dfid.gov.uk .Completed applications should be returned to DFIDrecruitment8@dfid.gov.uk by no later than 26 September 2008.

For further information about these opportunities please visit the DFID website.

The Population Environment Research Network (PERN) is hosting a cyber-seminar until 29 August on the topic of “Environmentally Induced Population Displacements”. The seminar is open to all who are interested and registration is free of charge.

The purpose of the cyber-seminar is to provide natural and social scientists with the opportunity to debate and discuss cutting-edge environmental research topics; in this case to determine if there is consensus on the magnitude of migration and movement which may be caused by environmental factors. Evidence exploring the effect of environmental factors, relative to other pressures, on migration and displacement will be considered.

The seminar will consider the potential future displacement which might result from climate change; particularly changes in rainfall patterns and sea level rise.

Visit the PERN website to register for the seminar and access background papers from invited experts.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has delivered its report on the current state of systematics and taxonomy in the UK. The Committee argues that systematics and taxonomy research in the UK is in critical decline and that further decline would severely impact on the UK’s ability to deliver its conservation aims.

The Committee has criticised the NERC for a lack of clarity over its process for funding taxonomic research; calling for greater funds to be made available to support this area, and also for the Research Councils to better coordinate dialogue between the producers and users of taxonomic research.

Speaking last week (13 August) on the launch of the report, the Committee’s Chair, Lord Sutherland of Houndwood said: “”Systematic biology is crucial for many of the Government’s targets on maintaining biodiversity and the protection of endangered species as well as providing an important measure of the effects of climate change. However there seems to be significant confusion within Government over who has responsibility for this vital area.”

The Committee has called on the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to take the lead in supporting systematics and taxonomic research.

The BES responded to the Committee’s inquiry, together with the Institute of Biology and Biosciences Federation. Read our response here.

Read full report: Systematics and Taxonomy: Follow-up