Memorandum submitted by the Royal Society
of Chemistry
The RSC welcomes the opportunity to comment
on the scope of the Defra Science inquiry by the Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
The RSC is the UK Professional Body for chemical
scientists and an international Learned Society for advancing
the chemical sciences. Supported by a network of over 44,000 members
worldwide and an internationally acclaimed publishing business,
our activities span education and training, conferences and science
policy, and the promotion of the chemical sciences to the public.
This document represents the views of the RSC.
The RSC's Royal Charter obliges it to serve the public interest
by acting in an independent advisory capacity, and we would therefore
be very happy for this submission to be put into the public domain.
The document has been written from the perspective
of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
The RSC believes that some or all of the areas
highlighted below should be considered for inclusion in the committee's
inquiry:
1. In order to prioritise research and to formulate
an effective strategy, a roadmap of future research, development
and deployment needs in the UK is critical. Key areas for funding
include the adaptation and mitigation of climate change, sustainable
water and food supply and the development of novel agrichemicals.
The chemical sciences will have a crucial role to play in training
scientists, carrying out fundamental research and promoting interactions
with scientists from other disciplines.
2. The RSC believes that the Select Committee
should inquire about the way it seeks scientific advice and how
it incorporates it into legislation. Learned and professional
organisations with access to a large number of experts, such as
the RSC, should play a pivotal role in giving balanced scientific
advice to Defra. This is particularly important before new legislation
is devised that will impact significantly on industrial and research
capabilities. Decision making processes need to be made more transparent.
Confidence in the process by which scientific advice is incorporated
into policy development would be enhanced by providing a publicly
available record detailing how scientific advice was used or not.
3. The RSC believes that the Select Committee
should inquire about the nature and adequacy of the in-house expertise
in Government Departments. Even if most advice is to be gathered
from outside it is necessary to have sufficient expertise to identify
who is technically knowledgeable and to act as "intelligent
customer" for the external advice. In many cases departments
lack the competency to frame the question, recruit the appropriate
expert or understand the answer when it has been provided.
4. The RSC strongly supports Defra's use of a
Chief Scientific Adviser and a Science Advisory Council (SAC).
The RSC believes that the operation of the SAC is an area the
Select Committee should examine in its inquiry.
5. The RSC believes that the Select Committee
should inquire about ways to support multidisciplinary research.
Publicly funded science is essential to the future prosperity
of the UK. Responsive mode funding is crucial to the long term
success of the UK's scientific research. It is essential to fund
multidisciplinary projects, as research grows more and more interdisciplinary.
Consortia such as Supergen are essential to improve communication
between different research groups and across disciplines.
6. It is particularly important that funding
mechanisms are transparent and that the remit of the funding programmes
is clear. There still remains confusion amongst scientists—especially
at the interface between traditional disciplines—on where
to best apply for funding. Funding opportunities need to be publicised
widely and openly to improve recognition of their remit. The different
funding bodies need to interact closely with each other to ensure
that they are systematic in deciding which projects are funded
by which funding body. The RSC believes that it is important that
the Select Committee inquires about how application processes
for funding schemes of all funding bodies can be harmonised to
reduce the administrative burden on researchers.
7. In light of long-term challenges such as climate
change and sustainability of food and fuel production, funding
opportunities should reflect the need for long-term and multidisciplinary
projects. The Select Committee should inquire about how finding
can be provided for expensive equipment and what mechanisms need
to be in place for long-term measurements. The RSC believes that
commitment of funding agencies and grant holders need to remain
continuous and reliable over a period of time to sustain research
groups successfully and to produce reliable data.
March 2008
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