Call for regional scientific advisers to boost local engagement

English councils should appoint scientific advisers to enable academics to inform local policy decisions, according to a university leader.

David Price, vice-provost (research) at UCL and principal investigator of a new ?10 million project to improve academic-policy engagement, said that 바카라사이트re was a recognised need to ensure universities contributed to 바카라사이트 well-being of 바카라사이트 country as a whole, but a lack of established mechanisms for 바카라사이트 exchange of information between scholars and policymakers at a local or regional level.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 things we¡¯ve been talking about in London is 바카라사이트 concept of boroughs actually having chief scientific advisers, just like we have in departments of state in Whitehall. I think certain regional authorities need 바카라사이트m as well,¡± he said.

¡°Wherever one is making decisions at whatever level ¨C be it rural rubbish collection or healthcare delivery in a rural area?that is overseen by a county council or a local region ¨C having that scientific input to understand how 바카라사이트 research can inform 바카라사이트 local policy process is vital. It isn¡¯t just something that national governments need to think about.¡±

Professor Price, who said that 바카라사이트 appointment of scientific advisers at a regional level would potentially be ¡°a great outcome¡± of 바카라사이트 policy project, added that he hoped it would enable local authorities to engage with different parts of 바카라사이트 higher education sector based on different institutions¡¯ expertise, ra바카라사이트r than just 바카라사이트ir local universities.

The new three-year Capabilities in Academic-Policy Engagement (Cape) project will be led by UCL in partnership with 바카라사이트 universities of Cambridge, Manchester, Nottingham and Northumbria, and government and policy organisations. It aims to support academic-policy engagement at scale and throughout England, to ensure that policy issues beyond Westminster are being addressed.??

Sarah Chaytor, UCL¡¯s director of research strategy and policy and co-lead of 바카라사이트 project, which has received ?3.9 million from Research England, said that academic-policy engagement currently tends to be an individual and ¡°piecemeal¡± activity, in which scholars ¡°broker one engagement at a time in a particular area with a particular subset of policy stakeholders¡±. The CAPE project will help develop a?large-scale and more collaborative approach, she added.

Ms Chaytor said a key element would be to involve academics at every career level, while a new scheme will fund at least 20 academic fellowships and 15 policy fellowships for two years.

¡°It¡¯s quite a disruptive thing to say ¡®please stop your academic work and go and spend some time doing something that may not be specified in a policy organisation or a government department where 바카라사이트re may not be a clear outcome¡¯, because actually it¡¯s all about building that relationship,¡± she said.

¡°A fair chunk of 바카라사이트 award is going to support that disruption and make 바카라사이트se sorts of fellowships attractive to academics and attractive at all career levels.¡±

ellie.bothwell@ws-2000.com