All hail the Lord of the Night (flikr.com)It would appear that changes are afoot in the world of science, at least in the UK at any rate.
A couple of years ago the Labour Government set up a department of science and higher education, which was generally received well, if a little cautiously. Now, however, it is being scrapped and science and education policy is to be under the remit of one Lord Mandelson. During the recent reshuffle dear Mandy was given the rather important role of chairing the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. So science, including academic research, is now under the catch-all business group.
If one purely looks at this from an industry point of view then the move makes sense. Well, it would, if the pharmaceutical industry wasn't in dire straits. Another possible outcome to this is a reduction in the amount of independent research going on in the UK as the various lobbyists and businesses have greater say over what goes on in academic groups.
To me this reeks of poor planning - are our young graduates and postgrads more likely to be swallowed up by Big Pharma and Arms Engineering (arguably the two biggest scientific businesses in the UK, both with a question mark over their ethics) or are they going to be trapped into doing research that suits big business rather than charitable work, e.g. the British Heart Foundation or Cancer Research UK to name two medical examples?
Time will tell, but one can only hope that the next government looks at this development very carefully and then consigns it to the skip.
The full story is here.
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