Blog Posts, Events, Partner organizations, Policy, Uncategorized

No weak evidence, it’s Evidence Week!

Leah Fitzsimmons, University of Birmingham

Monday, 25 June, saw the opening of the first ever ‘Evidence Week’ in the Houses of Parliament. Organised by Sense About Science in association with House of Commons Library, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, POST – Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, and SAGE Publishing, the idea was to hold a week full of events, masterclasses and other sessions to help bring the public and parliamentarians into discussion about the use of evidence in public life.

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Biochemical SocietyJuly 5, 2018July 12, 2018Leave a comment

Biochemical Society, Policy

Voice of the Future 2018

By Adam Jellett, University of Bristol

How would politicians cope being quizzed by a room full of young scientists and engineers? That’s what I sought to find out when I travelled to Westminster to take part in Voice of the Future 2018. This event, organised by the Royal Society of Biology and in its seventh iteration, is unique in its reversing of a Select Committee meeting, where MPs hold experts and government ministers to account in various areas of policy. At Voice of the Future, it is the MPs who are questioned so that we, the scientific community, can gain a better understanding of the world of policy and their views on UK science. Can we change their opinions? Can they change ours?

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Biochemical SocietyMarch 29, 2018Leave a comment

Biochemical Society, Education & careers, Policy, Student-focused

Insight into science communication for policy making

Hannah Sutcliffe, University of Edinburgh,
UK

When the chance to apply for a policy internship at the UK Parliament arose, I jumped at the opportunity to find out more about how scientific evidence is used by policy makers.

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Biochemical SocietyJune 15, 2017June 27, 2017Leave a comment

Biochemical Society, Events, Policy

Voice of the Future 2017: young scientists question MPs and Ministers

By Dr Andrew Quigley, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford

Blog Andrew_VOF2017 — *Dr Andrew Quigley representing the Biochemical Society at Voice of the Future event . Photo: Royal Society of Biology*

“Voice of the Future is a very unusual event” says Dr Stephen Benn, Director of Parliamentary Affairs at the Royal Society of Biology. There is no event quite like it anywhere else in Parliament, possibly the world. How often do young representatives of professional bodies get the opportunity to sit in for a Parliamentary Committee and question MPs about science policy issues that matter to them? But that is exactly the chance that I and 50 other young scientists and engineers were given. Continue reading “Voice of the Future 2017: young scientists question MPs and Ministers”