CaSE Debate 2013

CaSE (Campaign for Science and Engineering) are a self described 'plucky' independent group resolved to increasing the political profile of science in the UK. On 30th October 2013 the Royal Society hosted a CaSE debate for which the science ministers for the three main UK political parties were invited to share their views on science funding. Strangely for UK politics science does not induce the normal cross-party knock about and subsequently views on funding were fairly uniform. The event therefore gave a fairly clear glimpse into the way science will be financed and promoted in the UK in the near future.

With a 'Question Time' style set up and excellent chairing from BBC's Pallab Ghosh the debate was informative, at times humorous and, most importantly, it made sense to me - a scientist sitting in the audience.

L-R David Willetts, Liam Payne, Dr Julian Huppert and Pallab Ghosh

As I enjoyed the event so much and feel a lot of wisdom was communicated to the audience, I am going to do a short series of posts highlighting some of the key topics discussed. They will be broken down as follows:

• the STEM skills gap
• where funding should go within science and engineering 
• how UK science funding compares to that of other nations
• women in science

Check back soon for the first round up.