The Valuing Nature Network (VNN) in partnership with Natural Environment Resource Council (NERC) will be running a series of workshops on biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation in London during May 2011.

The workshops, supported by the Natural Capital Initiative (NCI), will cover a broad range of topics associated with valuing biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural resource use including;

- Abiotic (physical & chemical factors)
- Statistics & modelling
- Marine ecology
- Human dimensions
- Terrestrial & freshwater ecology
- Human health & the environment
- Economics (agriculture, environmental, ecological)
- Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

The series will bring together researchers from disciplines such as natural science, economics and social science, as well as decision makers from the business and policy sectors. The workshops aim to create a network of people across disciplines who are engaged in the value of the natural environment.

Outputs will then be used to define an agenda for subsequent interdisciplinary actions supported by the VNN, and improve decision making regarding the natural environment in the future.

To register your interest in attending these workshops see the Valuing Nature Network website.

The third annual joint NERC – BES Science Policy Interactions workshop (5- 6 May, in London) is now open for applications – but be quick; the closing date is 11th April at 17.00.

The Science Policy Interactions workshop is an opportunity for early-career researchers to find out first hand from policy-makers how they can inform decision-making with scientific evidence. Thirty early-career participants (no more than 12 years since finishing their PhDs – and either members of the BES or NERC-funded researchers) are joined at the workshop by those with experience of working in Government Departments, agencies or Parliament, and a number of peers with experience of informing policy development. Over the course of two days there is ample opportunity to interact with these individuals, through a series of presentations, case-studies and communications exercises.

A networking dinner on the evening of the first day allows participants to get to know one another, and hopefully contribute to another aim of the workshop – to create a cohort of well-informed, enthusiastic and engaged researchers who can help the BES, NERC and one another in engaging decision-makers with scientific advice.

To find out more, visit the BES website or contact the BES Policy Team for information.

The Campaign for Science and Engineering yesterday celebrated 25 years since the founding of the organisation, then called ‘Save British Science’. Figures from science journalism and policy assembled at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Savoy Place, to congratulate CaSE and to hear speeches from a number of founders of CaSE, and David Willetts, Science Minister in the UK Government.

Imran Khan, CaSE Director, congratulated Mr Willetts on securing a benign settlement for science in the Comprehensive Spending Review. Representing a ‘flat cash’ settlement, or a 10% cut in ‘real terms’, given inflation, the settlement is widely recognised as the best outcome for science given the context in which the settlement was secured – with large budget cuts across Government. However, Imran highlighted once again to Mr Willetts that other countries have chosen to invest in their science base as a means of lifting themselves out of recession, whist the UK has in effect cut revenue to science, engineering and technology.

There is no doubt that CaSE deserves congratulations for its role in lobbying Government in the run up to the CSR, and for the central role that the organisation played in the ‘Science is Vital‘ campaign, which secured 30,000 signatures in favour of an increase in science funding under the CSR. During the reception, CaSE displayed a number of slides illustrating hopes and aspirations for the science base in 2036, 25 years from now. Their next priority is to lobby and influence the UK Government to develop a long-term, fifteen year, framework for science and engineering, aiming to make at least some of these aspirations a reality.

Find out more about the Campaign for Science and Engineering through the CaSE website and blog.

This afternoon government departments have published details of their budget allocations for 2011-2015. This follows on from higher-level budgets allocated in the Treasury’s Comprehensive Spending Review published in November.

DEFRA has outlined the annual expenditure for each of its Arm’s Length Bodies – including Natural England, the Environment Agency and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) – over the next four years. £45 million of budget cuts arm’s length bodies – approximately 5% in-year reductions- has already been decided for 2010/11.

Expenditure on the Environment Agency flood protection programme is expected to be over £2.1 billion between 2011 to 2015- or £540 million per year – roughly equivalent to 8% reduction in spending compared to the previous four years. Capital expenditure on flood protection will also be cut by over £100million by 2012. Natural England will have its resource budget cut by an average of £10million per year, with the deepest cuts taking place in 2012 (£12.8million) and 2013 (£14.2million).

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) also published its annual grant letter, detailing expenditure for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) from 2011-12 to 2014-15. The full grant letter also indicates expenditure for 2012-13, the year that a new system for student finance will be implemented.

Science and research funding allocations were also published today by BIS, on behalf of the Business Secretary, Vince Cable and Universities Minister, David Willetts MP. Annual research council capital expenditure will decrease by over £212,000 over the next 4 years- up to 46% less than in 2010-11. However the Medical Research Council – which supports and directs medical research in universities and hospitals across the country- will see its resource budget increase by up to 5%, to approximately £574.6 million per year over the course of the spending review. The new UK Space Agency will also be allocated resource funding of up to £769.7 million overall. Roughly £205.6 million will be spent on the space agency in 2011/12.

Applications are invited for a new, six month, policy placement secondment opportunity to work within the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Environment and Rural Group, based in London.

This secondment is offered as part of NERC’s policy placement fellowship scheme which allows researchers and other staff involved in environmental science research to work closely with policy-makers within government and other public and third sector organisations in the UK. Such placements have proved valuable in significantly enhancing links between NERC science and science evidence and policy teams in government and regulatory bodies, enabling improved science evidence for UK policy.

The policy placement will involve working alongside an economist and policy officials as part of a small team that will lead the gathering and analysis of evidence to determine how bio-energy can contribute sustainably to the government’s renewable energy and climate change goals for 2020 and 2050. This is part of a wider portfolio of work being undertaken in conjunction with other government departments, to help determine the role bio-energy can play in the UK’s future low carbon energy mix.

Further details are available from the NERC website.
Please see “fellowship placement current opportunities” PDF.

The closing date for applications is Monday 22 November 2010.

Two events attended by the BES Science Policy Team this week saw David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, heartily congratulated by the science community for achieveing a favourable science settlement in the CSR. As announced on 20 October, the science budget will be ring-fenced at a cash value of £4.6 billion for each of the next four years, to 2014.

Science Question Time at the Royal Institution (Tuesday 26 October) saw the Minister joined by Professor Dame Janet Finch, Chair of the Council of Science and Technology; Professor Colin Blakemore, University of Oxford and Philip Greenish, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering. The event was chaired by Mark Henderson, science reporter for the Times. All around the table thanked the Minister for achieving the settlement he had for science, which will mean a decrease in real terms of 10% on the current science budget over the next four years, due to inflation. Willetts made it clear that this would mean tough choices for science, outlining four main challlenges which lie ahead:

- How the science budget can move to a stable resource in ‘real’, not cash, terms. This will need to be achieved through efficiency savings, as identified in the Wakeham report, and every pound saved will be a pound that stays within the science budget to re-invest in research.

- The balance between fixed international subscriptions and the capital budget. Willetts said that ‘when you juggle this, the variable tends to be people’, and identified a major challenge around science career planning. It won’t be possible for all those who’ve piled into science research in the past few years to progress to professorships, Willetts said. These scientifically qualified people need to understand the other avenues open for them outside science.

- Excellence across the research base: to what extent should funding be concentrated, on subjects and in institutions? To what extent should clusters be formed, with others doing excellent research?

- Collaboration alongside competition: how can this be fostered and barriers overcome?

During a wide ranging discussion following speeches from each of the panellists, a key point to emerge was the expectations which Government would place on the scientific community as a result of the favourable settlement. Treasury expected to see economic returns through its investment in science, and science researchers would need to consider carefully how money was spent. Willetts was urged to recognise the value of blue-skies research as a fundamental underpinning to applied studies.

Willetts gave the address to the annual lunch of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee yesterday, again receiving thanks from those present for his negotiating efforts. He stated much the same as on the previous evening but also commented on how important it was that the Houses of Commons and Lords had proper access to science advice. 65 MPs had sat in Parliament before this year’s election, and, Willetts said, 65 were present now, stating that this should dispel any pessimistic comments about a decline in interest in science amongst parliamentarians. Responding to the Minister’s speech, Andrew Miller MP, Chair of the Committee, called on Learned Societies and others to do more to engage with parliament, and with the public, particularly in relation to early years science education.

Overall, the science community seems pleased and pragmatic about the settlement for science, although there is no doubt that tough times do lie ahead. The Minister commented at the RI on Tuesday that at least, with the settlement he has secured, the Government and scientists can tackle them together ‘in an atmosphere of mutual trust and co-operation’.

Following the Chancellor’s budget announcements last week, David Willets, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, has taken part in a Radio 4 live debate about the effects of the spending review on the research budget. He was joined on the programme by an expert panel, including Dr Mark Downs, Chief Executive of the Society of Biology and Sir Martin Taylor, author of the Royal Society report ‘The Scientific Century’.

After praising the scientific community for “bringing together such powerful evidence” on the benefits of research for both economic gains and social well-being, Mr Willets re-iterated the government’s commitment to a “protected cash budget for science and research, in real terms, over the next 4 years”. However, he stressed that this would be allocated specifically to higher education institutions, funding councils, academies and learned societies.

Dr Downs, of the Society for Biology, expressed a “deep sense of relief and gratitude” following the ring-fencing of £4.6 billion per year of funding for science. He added that the essential role of science for our economic recovery’ had been formally recognized by the government, suggesting that it had wisely acted upon strong advice presented by the scientific community and via the Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington.

Sir Martin Taylor questioned 25% reduction in Higher Education funding from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, suggesting it could jeopardize the ability of Scientists to plan long-term research projects. This would go against a key recommendation of the Royal Society, that ‘ambitious’ projects’ should be supported to secure the future of innovation in the UK.

During the programme, the panelists also discussed a reported pledge of up to £1billion towards a commercial Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Demonstration project in the North Sea. Speaking on behalf of the research team, Professor Stuart Haszeldine of Edinburgh University claimed that the UK would potentially achieve a “World’s first” building of a commercial CCS plant, upon completion of the project in early 2011.

The full ‘Material World’ programme is available for listening on BBC iplayer, and will be broadcast again tonight at 9pm on Radio 4.

Applications are invited for a new, six month, policy placement secondment opportunity to work with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Science and Strategy Directorate based in Stirling.

This secondment is offered as part of NERC’s policy placement fellowship scheme which allows researchers and other staff involved in environmental science research, to work closely with policy-makers within government and other public and third sector organisations in the UK. Such placements have proved valuable in significantly enhancing links between NERC science and science evidence and policy teams in government and regulatory bodies, enabling improved science evidence for UK policy.

The purpose of this policy placement is, in conjunction with SEPA’s Human Health Working Group, to promote SEPA’s understanding of the Environment and Human Health research ‘landscape’ in the UK, including the dissemination of research outputs and translation of evidence into robust environmental policy & regulatory practice.

Further details are available here.

Please see “fellowship placement current opportunities” PDF for additional information.

The closing date for applications is Monday 15 November 2010.

The BES is supporting the ‘Science is Vital’ campaign, a grass roots movement which aims to highlight to Government the consequences for the UK’s science base and economy of cuts to the science budget. Science is Vital is being co-ordinated by the Campaign for Science and Engineering.

Members of the BES and others are encouraged to:
- sign the Science is Vital petition (which has now been signed by over 18,000 individuals)
- join a march in Westminster on Saturday, 9 October (2pm)
- join a direct lobby of Parliament on 12 October (3.30 – 4.30pm)
- Write to your MP about the impact of cuts to science spending

More about all of these activities is on the Science is Vital website.

NERC is pleased to announce the next round of Knowledge Exchange Call (KE Call), with a closing date of 4pm on 3 November 2010.
The Call’s aim is to promote the exchange of knowledge, people, skills and expertise between the research base and those in the user community who can make use of this.
To reflect NERC’s strategic alignment of knowledge exchange funding to key areas of impact and the implementation of its knowledge exchange programmes, we particularly welcome proposals in the following areas, and will be prioritising funding in these areas:
- Marine renewable energy
- Water security
- Financial services
– Environmental monitoring

Further information on the KE Call is at: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/schemes/kecall.asp.

NERC will run the KE Call and the KE Fellowships schemes together: applicants may submit a proposal to either of these schemes at the same time. Proposals may be linked, if appropriate, although they will be assessed separately as stand alone applications. Information on KE Fellowships is at: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/schemes/kefellows.asp.