Centre for Science and Policy

The Centre for Science and Policy's annual conference, held on 18th April at the Royal Society, brought together some of the country's most eminent professionals working at the interface of Science and Policy. Over 230 professionals from industry, academia and government attended - a reflection of CSaP's ability to convene different communities to address a common challenge, namely how to best harness the sciences and technology in the service of society. For more information on CSaP events, visit:

James Wilsdon, Professor of Science and Democracy at the University of Sussex, talks about the launch of "Future directions of scientific advice in Whitehall" - a collection of essays marking the appointment of the UK Government's new Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport. To download the collection, visit:

Andrea Lee, Head of the Strategic Analysis team at the Department for Communities and Local Government, shares her experience of being a CSaP Policy Fellow and the ways new methodologies in research can be leveraged in government.

Chris Tyler, Director of the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST), reviews the Science / Policy landscape and argues that for policy makers to do science better, scientists need to do policy better.

Douglas Kell, Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) looks back to C.P.Snow's famous "Two Cultures" lecture of 1959 and discusses the role the Biology research base to policy making today.

Graham Pendlebury, Director of Local Transport at the Department for Transport, shares his experience of being of a Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP).

Jill Rutter, Programme Director for Better Policy Making at the Institute for Government, looks back at the history of science and policy interaction and discusses the need for intermediary organisations to facilitate connections between professionals.

Engineering Department PhD student and President of Cambridge University Science and Policy Exchange (CUSPE) discusses opportunities for early career researchers interested in the policy implications of their work. For more on CUSPE, visit:

The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport, speaking with CSaP's Founding Director Dr David Cleevely at the CSaP's annual conference (18th April 2013). Sir Mark delivered the keynote address at the conference, his first major speech since taking office. For more, visit: