A synchrotron under construction in the Middle East brings hope for both science and peace. “It’s like a parallel universe,” says Eliezer Rabinovici, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, of the complex of buildings in the Jordanian desert near Amman. Rabinovici is a string theorist, so he knows […]
policy
Is industry walking away from academia?
Recession-hit companies scale back university liaison offices. Universities could find it more difficult to find industry research partners as hi-tech companies look to scale back or close their academic liaison departments in the wake of the financial crisis. The defence technology company QinetiQ, spun out of the government’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 2001, […]
Industry and academics square off over future of Framework
The negotiations on Framework 8, the EU’s research funding programme scheduled to begin in 2014, are now well and truly underway. With the mid-term review of Framework 7 now out of the way, attention will quickly turn to its successor. The European Commission will present its first communication on Framework 8 in early 2011, and […]
LibDem grassroots wait and see on science
Liberal Democrat activists at the party’s conference in Liverpool have adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude to the coalition’s science policy. “I think the jury’s still out,” Ken Cosslett, chairman of the Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists told Research Fortnight. “But we will definitely be discussing it at our AGM on Wednesday.” After […]
Steady on, Damian!
Immigration minister Damian Green wants to crack down on foreign students who stay in the UK after graduating. Research Fortnight news editor Brian Owens wonders if that means him. A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to find myself a subject of discussion on the BBC’s Today programme on Radio 4. Well, not me […]
What to expect from the coalition
In May, UK voters decided not to give any one political party an absolute majority in the House of Commons. The result was the country’s first coalition government in 70 years, an unlikely pairing of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Read more in Materials Today.
Don’t panic
The speedy insertion of impact assessment into the plans for the Research Excellence Framework last month has alarmed academics. To grade work not just on its scholarly merits but on how useful it is, economically and socially, is anathema to many researchers. But the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s plans are not as bad […]