SCIENCE FOR PARLIAMENTS
Welcome to the third Science for Parliaments newsletter
What happens when the science funding stops? Effects of sequestration on US Science Agency budgets
Priorities for Australian Science
New Bushfire and Natural Hazards research Cooperative Research Centre
A fantastic story of gearing - President Obama reiterates commitment to human gene research
Accessing the results of publicly funded research
Inequality quantified: Mind the gender gap
Welcome to the third Science for Parliaments newsletter
Through this newsletter we aim to bring you informative news about the Academy's activities, the latest developments in science policy in Australia and elsewhere, as well as providing links to important reports that are of significance to the sector. We hope you find this newsletter useful and we would be pleased to receive your suggestions and feedback to science.policy@science.org.au
What happens when the science funding stops? Effects of sequestration on US Science Agency budgets
An article recently published in Nature examines the impact that the US$85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts are set to have on science agencies. The National Institute of Health is set to lose $1.6 billion, the National Science Foundation more than $370 million, and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, $260 million. The cuts are already having an impact on agencies with postdocs not being hired, and equipment repairs being put on hold. Few, if any, new grants are being awarded by the National Science Foundation. The full article is available on the nature website
Priorities for Australian Science
The Academy has put forward a plan for Australian science in its Pre-budget submission to Treasury. The Academy argues that Australia needs a scientifically literate population with high skills and ability if it is to compete internationally in many areas of scientific research and tertiary education. In the submission the Academy has identified seven specific priorities to help inform the preparation of the 2012-13 Federal Budget:
- Long-term strategic investment in Australian science
- Enhanced development and utilisation of our talented research workforce
- Further investment in science and maths teaching
- Augmentation of international science linkages
- Ongoing investment in major research infrastructure
- Provision of true research costs
- Improvement of research productivity by reduction of the administrative burden
A copy of the submission is available in reports and submissions section of the Academy's website
New Bushfire and Natural Hazards research Cooperative Research Centre
As part of the Federal Government's newly announced 'public good' funding stream within the CRC program a new bushfire and natural hazards CRC will be established. The CRC which is expected to closely involve State and Territory governments, expands on the work of the previous Bushfire CRC and will conduct coordinated and interdisciplinary research, including work with communities, to improve disaster resilience and reduce the human, social, economic and environmental costs from bushfires and other natural hazards. Further information and research from the Bushfire CRC is available here.
A fantastic story of gearing - President Obama reiterates commitment to human gene research, and comments that every dollar spent on the human genome project generated $140 in economic benefits for US industry
In his State of the Union address the US president mentioned how genomics have affected the economy, stating that every dollar invested to map the human genome has returned $140 to the US economy. A federal government investment of $3.8 to $5.6 billion in human genome sequencing has so far had an economic impact exceeding $796 billion. Read more at genome web.
Accessing the results of publicly funded research
The results of much publicly funded research can often be difficult to access to those outside of universities and research institutes. Research results are often printed in academic journals that require expensive subscriptions, making it difficult for government businesses, charitable organisations, and the public to access the results of publicly funded research.
Plans have been developed by the NHMRC and the ARC to make the results of publicly funded research freely available to all after a short embargo period. The United States government have now also adopted a similar position and have instructed funding agencies to draw up plans to ensure that the results of publicly funded research are freely available to all. Following the comprehensive Finch Review which outlines the broader societal and economic benefits of making research freely available on an 'open access' basis the United Kingdom government has also stated its preference for open access publishing.
Moving towards an open access publishing environment is not without difficulties, and publishers and researchers will need time to adjust to new publishing models. The Academy has produced a set of guiding principles to inform consideration about the transition to open access publishing.
Inequality quantified: Mind the gender gap
According to an article in Nature, despite improvements, female scientists continue to face discrimination, unequal pay and funding disparities. In the US, female scientists earned $24,000 less per year than their male colleagues. Read more at Nature.
