Author Archives: Policy_Team
Women in science: following the footsteps of a pioneer
Tuesday was the fourth annual Ada Lovelace day, a day for celebrating women working in science, technology, engineering and maths. Named after Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace – widely held to be the very first computer programmer – the … Continue reading
New UK Biodiversity Science Committee Formed
On 19 September 2012, the inaugural meeting of the UK Biodiversity Science Committee (UK BSC), formed partly as a result of discussion at a meeting hosted by the BES in November 2011, was held at the Royal Society. The UK … Continue reading
The Future of Research Careers
At the one-off joint Education and Policy Lunchbox on 15th October (organised by the British Ecological Society, Biochemical Society and Society for Experimental Biology as part of Biology Week) our specially assembled panel and an audience of around 50 discussed … Continue reading
Policy Seminars in Brussels – Mountain Hay Meadows
Two policy seminars taking place in Brussels in November will be of interest to all agricultural ecologists. Both are being supported by the Pogány-havas Association, a project that seeks to preserve the regional heritage and conserve the environment in a … Continue reading
The 200 year old debate… to cull…or not to cull?
Badger culling to prevent TB transmission is a topic that has been debated back forth for since the 18th century and it is no different today. Do scientific facts play a big enough role? Or are we just divided by … Continue reading
Citizens across the globe call for greater protection of biodiversity
Results of an ambitious world-wide consultation gathering public opinions on biodiversity policy issues have been published this week. The World Wide Views on Biodiversity (WWViews on Biodiversity) initiative, detailed in a blog post in May, gathered 3,000 citizens from 25 … Continue reading
The Tipping Point – our not so Frozen Planet
It has been a year since Sir David Attenborough and the BBC set awed us with the fantastic delights and drastic plights of our ‘Frozen Plant’. Despite the attention given to global warming facts, the vital role of the poles … Continue reading
UK Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas Network is complete
The announcement last month by the Natural Environment Minister, Richard Benyon (Defra), that a 330km stretch of marine habitat between Studland and Portland in Dorset is to be designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) will complete the UK SAC … Continue reading
NERC – DEFRA High Level Policy Placement Fellowship
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are seeking a senior member of the environmental science community to take on a key role linking NERC science with Defra policymaking at the highest … Continue reading
Talk of the bees … “And Granny said in earnest ‘You’ve got to talk to your bees’”
Britain’s biodiversity may not be abundantly obvious in our everyday lives, nor may it immediately appear as splendid as an image of a tropical rainforest. One staggering example is that of our nation’s bees, of which there are over 260 … Continue reading