The Royal Society has been advising the British Crown and Government for 350 years, at first by demonstrating the value of experimental science and then by providing the best current scientific thought to leaders and policy makers everywhere.
Our 350th anniversary is a chance for the Royal Society to look forward, in particular through the advisory and support work of its new Science Policy Centre.
The purpose of the Science Policy Centre is to translate scientific activity into robust and effective science policyOne way that the Centre will achieve this in 2010 is by serving as a channel through which the Society will lead and support national and international discourse on topics such as climate change, emerging technology, geoengineering, synthetic biology, nuclear non-proliferation and neuroengineering.
The Centre will provide policy advice on these issues through reports and briefings, as well as organise events and workshops.
The Centre will also work to achieve accurate representation for science policy topics throughout public debate, engaging with the media and others from a wide range of disciplinary areas.
The Science Policy Centrewill also produce two major reports in 2010.
Early in 2010, The Fruits of Curiosity will examine the contribution of science to our economy and society.
Later in the year, the Global Science report will look at the future of international scientific cooperation.
International activities
The Society has always been an outward looking organisation. The post of Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society is older than the post of Foreign Secretary in the UK Government!
The Society will be involved in an ambitious series of international activities in 2010, under the leadership of the current Foreign Secretary, Professor Lorna Casselton FRS.
The Society aims to strengthen the voice of science in UK, European and international policy and so brings together its international activities and policy advice in its new Science Policy Centre.
Activities are planned across all seven continents. The flagship event is the InterAcademy Panel General Assembly in January 2010. The Royal Society is hosting and co-organising this major international meeting of the science community in 2010 and representatives of over 100 of the world’s science academies will be in attendance. An international biodiversity conference and foreign academies dinner event will complement this meeting, and will also be an important part of the International Year of Biodiversity.
Other aspects of the Society’s busy international programme in 2010 include:
- Frontiers of Science meetings for outstanding early career scientists in Australia and Brazil;
- Participation at the world’s most important scientific meetings
- Enabling excellence in science in Africa through our capacity building programme;
- Engaging with European-level science policy issues through our membership of the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC)
- lectures in New Zealand, India, Canada and France;