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Science & Public Affairs - June 2002

June 17, 2002

In this month's Science & Public Affairs: corporate funding for research: a good or a bad thing? the need for a Research and Monitoring Unit within the office of the Government Chief Scientist, to ensure impartiality of new research. EU Framework Programme 6 criticised for being too politicised and lacking in direction

Contents:

SPATalk - In the public interest?
Dr David Packham, University of Bath and Dr Pat Hughes, BT Exact Technologies, spar over corporate funding of university research. Packham is concerned about the need for openness to public scrutiny and the common requirement of universities to accept secrecy clauses that are incompatible with the values of science and against the public interest. Meanwhile Bateson, although agreeing on the need for openness, believes that full publication can reveal too much of the underlying commercial opportunity. She advocates review on a case-by-base basis.

Opinion - Heretics: martyrs or mistaken?
We pillory dissenters
Milton Wainwright, University of Sheffield worries at how the scientific establishment still turns on heretics and asks: why do we allow fellow scientists to be treated in this disgraceful fashion?

Mavericks are not always right
Professor Pat Bateson, Biological Secretary of the Royal Society, concedes that some mavericks have been proved right, but maintains that this doesn't mean all should be regarded in the same way. Some supposed discoveries are simply not what they seem or stem from elementary mistakes.

Focus - Science needs it social context
Current BA President Sir Howard Newby tells Wendy Barnaby why. He says that social science enables the scientific community to understand that the success of the scientific enterprise will rest on its social context as much as anything else. Sir Howard urges that scientists have to take part in the dialogue, including a component of science communication skills in the basic training for research students is a vital part of this process.

Features

Ensuring impartial advice
Professor Norman Sheppard, Chemical Sciences, University of East Anglia proposes a solution for maintaining public faith in the impartiality of scientific advice despite more funding from industry. Sheppard suggests a new Research and Monitoring Unit working as a 'think-tank' within the office of the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister. The Unit would carry out scientific assessment of evidence, independent of commercial or Government departmental considerations, to put before regulatory committees. It would also have the option of inspecting laboratory records as part of scientific journals' refereeing system.

Life sciences: Brussels meets the people
Professor Derek Burke, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and former Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, feels that the European Commission is trying to help scientists interact with the public through new initiatives. The European Group on Life Sciences set up in April 2000 has the task of organising discussions between leaders of the life sciences communities and stakeholders in the use of new knowledge in these fields. So far successes include a workshop in gene patenting, a roundtable on genetics and one on stem cells.

Framework programme 6 - A tarnished framework
Professor Richard Joyner, Chair of Save British Science, believes the European Union's FP6 gives small signs for optimism, but the approach to research seems to be the opposite of that which is needed for success. It remains too confused about it raison d'etre and too politicised in its resource allocation mechanisms. Joyner adds that its investment is siphoning off funds intended for other purposes, since it never pays the full costs of the work that it supports. He believes that the EU's structure probably makes it impossible to implement a successful research and science policy and that a fundamental rethink is likely to be needed.
                                                                                        
Engineering - a question of ethics?
Professor John Uff, King's College London, considers the obstacles to ethical practice. All engineers have a duty to the public that transcends all other duties and should be prepared in extreme cases to blow the whistle on unethical or unsafe practices. However, taking direct action to prevent disaster can be difficult, particularly for engineers who want to keep their jobs.

What on earth?
Baroness Walmsley, who chaired the House of Lords Enquiry 'What on Earth? The Threat to the Science Underpinning Conservation', says the UK falls short on the science of conservation. Systematic biologists, who discover, describe and classify living things, are crucial for conservation of biodiversity. In the UK, systematic biology is currently in decline and the House of Lords report argues it should be strengthened. Particularly through more money for the Darwin Initiative, which aims to use UK expertise and data for conservation in developing countries.

Science, society and side effects
Sir Michael Atiyah, a past President of the Royal Society, charts a course to the future. Atiyah believes that by following certain principles we can encourage the growth of knowledge while controlling its side effects. He also points out that it is reassuring to know that public opinion, even when misguided, can affect the issues directly in defiance of big business, as shown with GM foods.

The World Commission on Dams + eighteen months
Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, says there has not been enough progress in implementing recommended guidelines for improvement on the social and environmental consequences of large dams. While the UK, Germany and South Africa are committed; responses from Turkey, India and China have been inadequate. The World Banks has also disappointed by declining to adopt the rules, despite being one of the founding members of the Commission.

Sounding off - Rationality on a pedestal
Professor Helen Haste, University of Bath, argues we should pull it off the pedestal. Haste points to recent research on how we think as a catalyst for looking critically at the moral high ground currently occupied by rationality. She believes that a 'rational' process must deal wit complexity rather than strip it down. We must teach our children to deal constructively with ambiguity and diversity.

Me and my clever clothes
Dr Rod Shepherd, National Centre for Sensor Research, Dublin City University models future fashion for Emma Roberts. Shepherd works on making intelligent clothing such as a sock for diabetics to help prevent severe ulceration of the feet.

Plus regular columnists:
The Jack Harris Column - A Tete a Tete at the Tate
Jack Harris, Executive Member of British Pugwash, laments the demise of the 'old' Tate and the National Gallery in order to stock the Bankside with an extensive enough collection of modern art. He suggests that instead, at least one of Bankside's massive turbines should have been left to remind us of its technological past, it should have embraced Terence Conran's Design Museum and created in the rest a twenty first century version of the V&A, that is a museum of manufacturing and design.

SET in Parliament - Pitfalls of prescribing by profile
Pharmacogenetics is the latest buzzword in research and medical circles, says Ian Gibson MP, but the science is complex and in its early stages. Not ideal preconditions for good, well-informed political decision-making, although this is what is needed. Additionally, it is to be remembered that health and well-being depend on a lot more than appropriate drugs.

ENDS

British Association for the Advancement of Science (The BA)