The Case Diary includes the latest information on our activities. The Diary archive is available via the links on the left.

09/03/10 Building Our Future with Science and Engineering
CaSE has published its short election document, Building our Future with Science & Engineering, developed with our members and collaborators. This summarises the key issues emerging from the CaSE working papers. It urges the parties to develop clear and long-term policies that will enable science and engineering to address societal challenges and build a more robust economy.
Read Building our Future with Science & Engineering
Read the press release
Read theworking papers

The Science Vote
In honour of the upcoming general election, we have renamed our blog, formerly known as CaSE Notes, The Science Vote to emphasise the very real existence of a force among voters who care about science and engineering policies. The Science Vote has published its first posts from prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) from each of the main parties. We are working our way through a list of candidates with a background in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, inviting them to write for us.
The Science Vote blog
Read the PPC posts

09/03/10 Hilary Leevers attended the launch of the Royal Society's new report The Scientific Century, looking at the need for sustained long-term investment in growth.
Read the report

08/03/10 Letter to the Leaders
CaSE published its Letter to the Leaders today, which asks them to set out their science and engineering policies covering education & skills; research funding; innovation and science and engineering in government. CaSE has sent similar letters to the main political parties in advance of previous UK, devolved and European elections. We will publish the responses from the party in advance of the General Election. The Letter was also published in The Times.
Letter to the Leaders

05/03/10 CaSE's election blog has published a series of new posts:
- Nick Bowes from the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (AMCE) outlines the success of their recent Annual Conference on maths education. Read more.
- Diana Garnham, Chair of the Science for Careers Expert Group, talks about the group's new report examining how we can get more young people interested in a career in science. Read more.
- The Royal Statistical Society's Andrew Garrett on what the three main political parties have to say about official statistics in government. Read more.
- Simon Denegri, Chief Executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities, on the positive role charity organisations play among the science community. Read more

01/03/10 Council for Science Technology presents A Vision for UK Research
Nick Dusic attended the press launch of the latest Council for Science Technology report that presents the Prime Minister with A Vision for UK Research. The report argues for a long term plan of sustained investment in a broad, creative and excellent research base complemented by more strategic support downstream.
Read the report
Read Nick Dusic's New Scientist blog

25/02/10 CaSE met with the Institute of Measurement and Control

24/02/10 CaSE attended the Times Higher Education debate between David Lammy MP, Minister for Higher Education, David Willetts MP and Stephen Williams MP.
Watch the debate

24/02/10 Secretaries of State need to meet with their Chief Scientific Advisers
A series of parliamentary questions asked by the Shadow Conservative Minister for Science, Adam Afriyie MP, has revealed a worrying lack of face-to-face meetings taking place between Secretaries of State and their Chief Scientific Advisers. CaSE has responded by calling on the next government to ensure that Secretaries of States have regular meetings with their Chief Scientific Adviser.Without adequate interactions, ministers will not fully consider the contribution and role of science and engineering in policymaking.
Read the blog on science and engineering advice in government
Read the Press Release

23/02/10 Nick Dusic attended an AMRC dinner

23/02/10 Meeting with Adam Afriyie MP
CaSE Director, Nick Dusic, participated in a roundtable meeting with Adam Afriyie MP, Shadow Minister for Science, to discuss Conservative Science Policy.
Read the briefing

22/02/10 CaSE Working Papers
CaSE has been working with its members and other collaborators to develop a series of working papers to provide the rationale for policy work in teh run up to the General Election.
Education and skills working paper
Research funding working paper
Science in government

18/02/10 CaSE met with the British Pharmacological Society

17/02/10 CaSE met with Association for Science Education

08/02/10 Hilary Leevers met with Imperial College.

09/02/10
Nick Dusic attended a Parliamentary Reception organised by the Institute of Physics to highlight the economic and social impact which has resulted from fundamental physics research

10/02/10 Meeting with Conservative Shadow Schools Minister
CaSE met with Nick Gibb, Conservative Shadow Minister for Schools for a productive discussion on a range of issues, including provision of triple science GCSEs and the availability of science and mathematics teachers with a degree or specialist training in their subjects.

08/02/10 Hilary Leevers met with Imperial College London

03/02/10 CaSE met with Evan Harris
CaSE met with Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat Science Spokesman, and one of his advisers to discuss the use of impact to allocate research funding and also the development of Liberal Democrat science policy.

03/02/10 Nick Dusic gave Evidence to the Science and Technology Committee
Nick Dusic, Director of Campaign for Science and Engineering, gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on the impact of spending cuts on science and scientific research. He emphasised the need for stability of science funding by seeing through the 10 year framework, and the need to look at the portfolio of ways in which science is funded. Earlier in the week Gordon Brown said that the reason why the US had to put science at the heart of its economic stimulus package was that the US had not made the historically high investments made in the UK over the past decade. Dusic pointed out that increases in government science investment in the UK and US were comparable prior to 2007. Dusic also argued that the evidence base for science policy formulation needs to be improved.
Watch the session
Listen again to coverage in Today in Parliament (from 24 min until 10/02/10)

02/02/10 CSA for the Welsh Assembly
The Welsh Assembly Government today announced the appointment, by the First Minister, of Professor John Harries, as Wales' first Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA). Having a CSA in Wales is something that CaSE has long campaigned for along with a number of other organisations, most notably the Royal Society of Chemistry.

02/02/10 Roundtable at the Lords
Nick Dusic participated in a discussion meeting at the House of Lords to discuss the Principles on Scientific Advice.

28/01/10 Meeting with Lord Drayson
Nick Dusic met with Lord Drayson and others to discuss the government's Guidelines on Scientific Analysis for Policymaking consultation, including the proposed Principles on Scientific Advice.

28/01/10 CaSE met with Brunel University

28/01/10 Keeping Engineering on the Agenda
In a blog on the New Scientist S Word website, Professor Hugh Griffiths, chair of the CaSE executive committee, argues that while science and engineering have many issues in common, it is important that politicians do more than just pay lip-service to the latter. He commented that “Science and engineering are tightly intertwined and depend on many of the same structures and principles - as do mathematics and other related subjects - typically dealt with under ‘science policy’. But it is important to recognise that there are specific issues for each area.”
Read the blog

28/01/10 Setting a positive tone for Science and Engineering
This week’s Nature editorial urges scientists to repeatedly deliver a coherent pro-science message rather than fighting their corners against planned or anticipated cuts. It singles out CaSE for its collaborative work in the run-up to the election. As well as working behind the scenes for supportive policies for science and engineering, CaSE has organised a Cross-Party Science and Engineering Policy debate and will be writing to the party leaders asking them to set-out a positive science and engineering policy agenda. CaSE is also be building the resources available on this blog to track the relevant commitments of the different parties as well as allowing discussion of election issues that affect science and engineering.
Read the Nature editorial.
Find out what you can do.

26/01/10 CaSE met with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine

25/01/10 CaSE met with the University of Oxford

21/01/10 CaSE met with Reform

21/01/10 CaSE met with the representatives from the Department of Energy and Climate Change Select Committee

20/01/10 General Election Meeting
CaSE members and collaborators attended a meeting at the CaSE offices to share and develop their pre-election activities.

18/01/10 Nick Dusic met with representatives from the Lords Science and Technology Committee

18/01/10 Nick Clegg on science
Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, today gave his first speech on science at the Royal Society, which CaSE attended. On the blog, Hilary Leevers analyses what the speech actually tells us about Liberal Democrat commitments to science and engineering in the run up to the election.
Read the CaSE blog
View a wordle of Nick Clegg's speech

15/01/10 CaSE met with EADS Astrium

15/01/10 CaSE met with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

14/01/10 Times Roundtable
Hilary Leevers attended a Times roundtable discussion at the Institute of Physics

13/01/10 Science and Engineering Debate
350 people attended the CaSE Science and Engineering Policy Debate between Lord Drayson (Lab), Adam Afriyie MP (Con) and Dr Evan Harris MP (Lib Dem) at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, chaired by Roger Highfield of New Scientist. They were joined by 150 people watching the debate online and a host of tweeters eager to join the discussion. Responding to questions from audience, the three speakers agreed and differed a on range of issues including research funding, education, innovation and scientific advice in government.

12/01/10 Academy of Medical Sciences
Professor Sir John Bell, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, has outlined his vision for UK medical sciences on the CaSE Notes blog
Read the blog post

07/01/10 CaSE met with representatives from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills for an in depth discussion of the SET Statistics that they published at the start of December.
Read BIS SET stats
Read CaSE blog post on them from.

07/01/10 CaSE with Sense About Science

06/01/10 CaSE met with Research Fortnight

06/01/10 CaSE met with Roger Highfield, editor of New Scientist

06/01/10 CaSE met with Hugh Bailey MP

05/01/09 Our latest blog post by Hilary Leevers argues that science and engineering issues need to feature in the run up to the General Election and outlines some of the work that CaSE is doing to achieve this. Voters need to know where the parties stand on science and engineering issues and prospective MPs need to become engaged with them before the successful ones enter Westminster.

17/12/09 CaSE met with Prospect

16/12/09 CaSE News 62 published
The December issue of CaSE News has been published. As well as a round-up of recent science and engineering policy developments, it includes articles by Simon Singh, on Standing up for Scientific Freedom, Tim Bradshaw, In Support of the R&D Tax Credit and a CaSE feature on Reaching 2.5% of GDP to be Invested in R&D.
Read CaSE News 62

16/12/09 Meeting with DCSF
CaSE met with civil servants from the Department of Children, Schools and Families to discuss triple science provision and the proposed pupil guarantee intended to improve that provision.

15/12/09 The Three Englishmen
CaSE outing to see Nick Hall (CaSE Research & Administrative Assistant) being one of The Three Englishmen at the Canal Cafe Theatre.

15/12/09 Government Principles on Scientific Advice
CaSE and Sense About Science have responded to the government's proposed Principles for Scientific Advice to Government.
Read the joint press release
Read the CaSE blog post

14/12/09 Royal Society of Chemistry
CaSE enjoyed a Royal Society of Chemistry reception at the House of Commons.

14/12/09 Nick Dusic met with Bristow Muldoon from the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Edinburgh to talk about Scottish Science and Education Policy Issues.

10/12/09 CaSE Annual Distinguished Lecture 2009
The Governments Chief Scientific Advisor Professor John Beddington gave this year's CaSE Annual Lecture, hosted by the Wellcome Trust and sponsored by Engineering UK and Prospect. Titled "Science in Government: Challenges for the 21st Century", Professor Beddington spoke about the function and mechanisms of science advice in government, in the context of three major global issues: swine flu, food security and climate change. You can view Professor Beddington's presentation here.
View S-Word blog coverage of the event

09/12/09 Pre-Budget Report
The Pre-Budget Report 2009 was published today.
Commenting, CaSE Director, Nick Dusic, said “The Chancellor has sent mixed signals today about the future of science and innovation in the UK. He is looking for a significant cut in investment in the nation’s research and skills base, whilst providing support for innovation that stems from it.”
Read the press release

09/12/09 Dusic gave Oral Evidence to the Lords
Nick Dusic gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry into Setting Science and Technology Research Funding Priorities today. He talked about the importance of maintaining investment in science and technology research. He also highlighted the need for a better overview of this portfolio within government and in particular within the Treasury, calling for a Chief Scientific Adviser to be appointed to the Treasury.
View the oral evidence session
Read CaSE's written evidence

08/12/09 SET statistics
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published this year’s Science, Engineering and Technology Statistics. Read CaSE's initial analysis of the statistics on the new CaSE blog CaSE Notes.

07/12/09 CaSE met with Ian Taylor MP

04/12/09 CaSE met with the Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University

04/12/09 CaSE met with Colin Blakmore

04/12/09 CaSE met with the Society for Experimental Biology

03/12/09 Nick Dusic met attended a Royal Society event on scientific advice in government alongside Science Minister Lord Drayson

03/12/09 Nick Dusic met with Gary Kass from the Wellcome Collection

03/12/09 Hilary Leevers met EngineeringUK, formerly named the Engineering and Technology Board

01/12/09 Hilary Leevers attended Reform's Core Business policy launch. Hilary Leevers had an opportunity to speak with Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, about Conservative support for triple science and their plans for technical colleges

01/12/09 Nick Dusic attended a workshop event at the Royal Society with Lord Drayson on science research policy

30/11/09 Nick Dusic met the Times newspaper

30/11/09 CaSE attended a Times Higher Education debate at the Wellcome Trust on the future of UK science, led by Lord Drayson

30/11//09 Hilary Leevers met with Michael Speet at Breast Cancer Campaign

27/11/09 CaSE met with Unilever

26/11/09 CaSE attended NESTA’s launch of the pilot version of the Innovation Index with Lord David Currie, Chair of the Index Advisory Board, Stian Westlake, NESTA's Policy & Research Unit and Sir John Chisholm, NESTA's Chairman. During questions, Hilary Leevers emphasised the importance of making sure that the index does not detract from the goal of lifting R&D investment to more internationally competitive levels.

25/11/09 Department of Health R&D Budget at risk
CaSE has responded to the Secretary of State for Health's announcement that the DOH will be 'reprioritising' millions of pounds from health research and development to pay the costs of the government's new Social Care Bill. Speaking in the Times newspaper, CaSE Director Nick Dusic, said: “This is extremely disturbing as the NHS budget was supposed to be ringfenced to protect long-term investment into the health needs of this country. In any department any raid on the R&D budget is supposed to be discussed first with the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. If they’ve breached this process it’s an extremely worrying development that needs to be looked into.”
Read the Times article

24/11/09 Nick Dusic was a panelist with Ian Diamond and Sandra Nutley to discuss and debate impact at the NESTA crucible

24/11/09 Hilary Leevers attended a roundtable Reform lunch with David Laws MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, on education policy

23/11/09 Cambridge Science Policy Debate
CaSE attended the Cross-Party Debate on UK Science Policy at Robinson College, Cambridge, between Lord Drayson (Minister for Science & Innovation), Adam Afriyie MP (Shadow Minister for Science & Innovation) and Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat Science Spokesman).The debate was chaired by Professor Ian Leslie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge and organised by Cambridge Network. CaSE Assistant Director Hilary Leevers asked the panel what they would like to see as their crowning achievement as science minister. Mr Afriyie said he would like to see science "integrated into early states of policymaking process". Dr Harris said that he would like to see every science A level and GCSE lesson taught by a teacher with a degree in the subject. Lord Drayson said that he would like to see through the ten year spending plan, maintaining the ring-fenced science budget. CaSE looks forward to developing this discussion further at the science policy debate between the three science spokesmen, to be held at the Institution of Engineering and Technology on January 13.
Register for the January 2010 debate.
CaSE's notes on the Cambridge debate, November 2009
Watch the video at Cambridge Network

CaSE will be holding their own science policy debate between the three science spokesmen on January 13 at the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Register here.

23/11/09 Hilary Leevers met with SCORE

19/11/09 CaSE attended a Sense About Science evening reception

19/11/09 Nick Dusic had a meeting with the Science Media Centre

18/11/09 Children, Schools and Families Bill
The Children, Schools and Families Bill was announced in today’s Queen’s Speech. The Campaign for Science & Engineering calls on politicians to ensure that the Bill includes a statutory duty for all schools to offer interested and able students three separate biology, physics and chemistry GCSEs (triple science). Dr Hilary Leevers, Assistant Director of CaSE, commented: “Current targets and entitlements have failed to make sure that schools teach triple science. The Children, Schools and Families Bill must go further by including a statutory duty that ensures that all schools offer interested and able students triple science. The government has a legislative opportunity to deal with this inequality in science education."
Read the press release
Read the briefing for the Queen's Speech Debate

17/11/09 CaSE took part in GO-Science meeting at the Royal Association of Engineers

17/11/09 CaSE met with Sense About Science

16/11/09 CaSE attended the Society of Biology's Science Communication Awards

16/11/09 Nick Dusic met with CBI

16/11/09 Hilary Leevers participated in a workshop hosted by Sir Mark Walport for the Science and Learning Expert Group at the Wellcome Trust.

12/11/09 Hilary Leevers, CaSE Assistant Director, participated in an Agora discussion meeting on the future of universities with Oliver Letwin, Chairman of the Conservative Party's Policy review.

12/11/09 Nick Dusic attended a Times Eureka breakfast event

11/11/09 Hilary Leevers attended a Foundation for Science and Technology debate on a national infrastructure for the 21st century.

11/11/09 Nick Dusic traveled to Edinburgh for Science and the Parliament organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society Edinburgh.

10/11/09 CaSE met with the British Ecological Society

09/11/09 Nick Dusic met with the Society of Biology

04/11/09 Forced resignation of Professor Nutt
The sacking of Professor Nutt from his position as Chair of the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs has raised serious questions about the scientific advisory system. CaSE has produced a briefing on strengthening guidelines on scientific advice following this affair.

03/11/09 CaSE met with Kings College London