DOCSLIB.ORG

Sip SPRING 2015

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sip SPRING 2015 SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT The Journal of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee sip SPRING 2015 This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its Committees. All-Party Groups are informal groups of members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this Journal are those of the Group. This Journal is funded by the members of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. www.scienceinparliament.org.uk A century of energy professionalism Energy makes life what it is today and for a century the Energy Institute has been the place to be for energy professionals to develop knowledge, skills and good practice. www.energyinst.org Follow us: Join us: @EnergyInstitute Energy Institute snooker players who can skim is giving in to lobbying by the black into the pocket, but vested interests and I hope the SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT this is something else. science community protests Somebody likened it to loudly. Sadly, it remains the throwing a hammer in the air case that some politicians sip in London and hitting a nail in (including in the UK) put Beijing! personal prejudice ahead of By the time you are reading evidence based policy. this we may have started to I will finish on a positive note. The Journal of the Parliamentary and Andrew Miller MP Scientific Committee. Chairman, Parliamentary and understand what has been In 2014 we celebrated our The Committee is an Associate Scientific Committee uncovered about the history of 75th anniversary. HRH The Parliamentary Group of members of both Houses of Parliament and British the solar system, but what a I am writing this in Duke of Edinburgh has been members of the European Parliament, story it will be. an Honorary Member for more representatives of scientific and November because it has technical institutions, industrial been a momentous week At the same time, we than 50 years, and served as organisations and universities. discovered that the EU is our President in 1989. We Very few scientific dispensing with scientific were delighted that he agreed experiments take ten years. advice as a basis for decision to host a reception at But today we learned that a making. Anne Glover will be Buckingham Palace on 11th 300 million mile journey of an returning to the UK (since November to mark this. 150 object the size of my fridge Scotland remains part of it!). representatives of our had successfully landed on a members were able to marvel Anne, like all balanced Science in Parliament has two main meteor travelling at more than at the works of art in the objectives: scientists, has taken a positive 30,000 mph, ten years after it Picture Gallery, and to enjoy 1. to inform the scientific and industrial approach to GM crops, and communities of activities within left Earth. wine, canapés, music and Parliament of a scientific nature and the Select Committee, which I company. of the progress of relevant I have always had a sneaking chair, will be producing a legislation; report on this topic. It is little The P&SC is in good shape 2. to keep Members of Parliament admiration for darts players abreast of scientific affairs. who can hit the target, or short of disgraceful that the EU for its next quarter century. CONTENTS HOOKING UP HULL 2 ANNUAL LUNCHEON OF THE ENERGY STORAGE 28 Mac Andrade PARLIAMENTARY AND SCIENTIFIC Addresses to the P&SC by Dr Jonathan Radcliffe and COMMITTEE 16 Professor Toby Peters 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 3 CAN CONSISTENT APPRENTICESHIP DEMENTIA 32 Addresses to the P&SC by Professor Alistair Burns, FRANCE BANS USAGE OF PESTICIDES 6 EXPERIENCE BE ACHIEVED TO DRIVE Dr Claire Mouchot Dr Simon Ridley and Professor Martin Knapp PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE? 18 WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE Professor Sa’ad Medhat HOUSE OF LORDS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SELECT COMMITTEE 38 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF SOIL 2015? 8 CLIMATE CHANGE, FOOD SECURITY Matt Aitkenhead, Willie Towers, Helaina Black and Liz Baggs AND BIG DATA 19 HOUSE OF COMMONS SELECT COMMITTEE Irina Calos, SIN Officer, Los Angeles ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 39 PUTTING UK PHARMACOLOGY ON UK & BRAZIL: PARTNERS IN SCIENCE, THE MAP 10 PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE OF SCIENCE Katharine Richardson SPACE & INNOVATION 20 AND TECHNOLOGY 42 Dr Julia Knights, SIN Director, Brazil MEDICAL PHYSICISTS AND BIOMEDICAL HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY SCIENCE ROYAL SOCIETY PAIRING SCHEME 22 ENGINEERS 12 AND ENVIRONMENT SECTION 45 Professor Ruth Aylett and Ian Murray MP Dr Anna Barnes and Dr Elspeth Bartlett SELECTED DEBATES 47 DOES THE UK HAVE THE POWERING HUMAN PROGRESS – PAST, INFRASTRUCTURE IT NEEDS? 24 PRESENT AND FUTURE 14 SCIENCE DIRECTORY 47 Address to the P&SC by Nick Baveystock Ian Marchant SCIENCE DIARY 56 EBOLA VIRUS – AN UPDATE 26 The covers of this issue are sponsored by the British Society of Soil Science, the Energy Institute, the New Engineering Foundation and the British Pharmacological Society. Science in Parliament Vol 72 No 1 Spring 2015 1 HOOKING UP HULL: THE HULL ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT What makes the Hull WHAT ELECTRIFICATION and, ultimately, the delivery of Electrification Project (HEP) WILL BRING services. stand out from almost all other Electrification will bring the It is essential that the electrification schemes is that it opportunity to run more efficient momentum of the Hull is intended that the initial electric rolling stock with higher Electrification Project is development and construction passenger capacity. It will link up maintained so that it can be costs will be almost entirely the new line to other parts of delivered as soon as possible. the ‘electric spine’, improving privately funded, with FirstGroup journeys between Hull and the The HEP team is committed to securing major funding from capital, as well as to Leeds, an ambitious timetable and is infrastructure group Amey. Manchester and Liverpool – and working with its stakeholders, including MPs along the route, Mac Andrade As well as delivering a better even more so once HS2 and Director of Infrastructure at service to users of the railway – TransPennine electrification come and partners in Network Rail, to FirstGroup meet this. But it is also and the wider economic into force. incumbent upon the benefits that it will bring to Hull As well as the long term Government to agree a – the HEP is therefore good for benefits of both temporary guaranteed price with the HEP the UK taxpayer, protected from (construction) workers and before the end of this Last March the the up-front capital expense and permanent job creation that Parliament. financial risk involved with such would come with an expanded Secretary of State A commitment from the a project. Hull to London service, for Transport, electrification will also help attract Chancellor of the Exchequer to Patrick McLoughlin, WHY HULL? investment, and can be an electrify the Hull to Selby line in the Budget on 18 March would Until the conception of the important driver of growth to the announced Hull and Humber Region. ensure the Project’s long-term Hull Electrification Project, Hull Already enjoying a greater profile progress and help mitigate Government support was the only major city in the as the host of the 2017 City of against political risks involved – by way of a £2.4m north of England for which there Culture, Hull is undergoing an with any major infrastructure was no plan to electrify its main grant – for the economic and cultural scheme that coincides with a electrification of 33 railway line. What made this renaissance, something that general election and a change in more significant was that the FirstGroup – through First Hull government. miles of railway diesel services running to and Trains and the HEP – is proud to between Hull and from Hull would be be a part of. WIN-WIN incompatible with the lines The electrification of the Hull to Selby. Welcomed by In order for the city to realise its being electrified across the wider Selby railway line is a win-win for potential, modern railway the tax-payer, the Government, all, this was north, between Selby and infrastructure is needed. The the rail passenger, and the city of Liverpool and York, via testament to the speedy delivery of the HEP can Hull; its residents and Manchester and Leeds. Far from Department for only further the ambitions of the businesses, as well as those who benefiting Hull, this inequality of city and its businesses. Transport’s live and work throughout the infrastructure would have had a Humber region. prioritisation of negative impact on the city’s URGENCY: MAKING It is essential that the Project economy. ELECTRIFICATION railway HAPPEN progresses as swiftly as possible electrification for First Hull Trains, which currently Patrick McLoughlin’s to ensure benefits are delivered operates on the line between announcement last March without any unnecessary delay. 2014 to 2019. Hull and London King’s Cross, is represented a milestone for the FirstGroup prides itself on the already one of the highest- HEP. way it works with its partners ranked operators in terms of With Government support, it and stakeholders. Our Hull customer satisfaction. The meant FirstGroup’s work to Electrification Project team will addition of electrification will secure nearly £100m of private continue to work in partnership enable First Hull Trains to make funding can be released to in order to make Hull major improvements on its progress the Project through the electrification a reality. excellent service. feasibility phases, construction 2 Science in Parliament Vol 72 No 1 Spring 2015 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee has often been described as the “doyen” of APPGs. It is certainly the oldest – having celebrated its 75th anniversary last year.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Third Wave of Science Studies: Studies of Expertise and Experience H.M
    Social Studies of Science http://sss.sagepub.com/ The Third Wave of Science Studies: Studies of Expertise and Experience H.M. Collins and Robert Evans Social Studies of Science 2002 32: 235 DOI: 10.1177/0306312702032002003 The online version of this article can be found at: http://sss.sagepub.com/content/32/2/235 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com Additional services and information for Social Studies of Science can be found at: Email Alerts: http://sss.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://sss.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav >> Version of Record - Apr 1, 2002 What is This? Downloaded from sss.sagepub.com at UNIV OF RHODE ISLAND LIBRARY on December 9, 2013 DISCUSSION PAPER ABSTRACT Science studies has shown us why science and technology cannot always solve technical problems in the public domain. In particular, the speed of political decision-making is faster than the speed of scientific consensus formation. A predominant motif over recent years has been the need to extend the domain of technical decision-making beyond the technically qualified ´elite, so as to enhance political legitimacy. We argue, however, that the ‘Problem of Legitimacy’ has been replaced by the ‘Problem of Extension’ – that is, by a tendency to dissolve the boundary between experts and the public so that there are no longer any grounds for limiting the indefinite extension of technical decision-making rights. We argue that a Third Wave of Science Studies – Studies of Expertise and Experience (SEE) – is needed to solve the Problem of Extension.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Ethers, Religion and Politics In
    ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE Ethers, religion and politics in late-Victorian physics: beyond the Wynne thesis AUTHORS Noakes, Richard JOURNAL History of Science DEPOSITED IN ORE 16 June 2008 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10036/30065 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication ETHERS, RELIGION AND POLITICS IN LATE-VICTORIAN PHYSICS: BEYOND THE WYNNE THESIS RICHARD NOAKES 1. INTRODUCTION In the past thirty years historians have demonstrated that the ether of physics was one of the most flexible of all concepts in the natural sciences. Cantor and Hodge’s seminal collection of essays of 1981 showed how during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries British and European natural philosophers invented a range of ethers to fulfil diverse functions from the chemical and physiological to the physical and theological.1 In religious discourse, for example, Cantor identified “animate” and spiritual ethers invented by neo-Platonists, mystics and some Anglicans to provide a mechanism for supporting their belief in Divine immanence in the cosmos; material, mechanistic and contact-action ethers which appealed to atheists and Low Churchmen because such media enabled activity in the universe without constant and direct Divine intervention; and semi-spiritual/semi-material ethers that appealed to dualists seeking a mechanism for understanding the interaction of mind and matter. 2 The third type proved especially attractive to Oliver Lodge and several other late-Victorian physicists who claimed that the extraordinary physical properties of the ether made it a possible mediator between matter and spirit, and a weapon in their fight against materialistic conceptions of the cosmos.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Report 2010-12
    RESEARCH REPORt 2010—2012 MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Cover: Aurora borealis paintings by William Crowder, National Geographic (1947). The International Geophysical Year (1957–8) transformed research on the aurora, one of nature’s most elusive and intensely beautiful phenomena. Aurorae became the center of interest for the big science of powerful rockets, complex satellites and large group efforts to understand the magnetic and charged particle environment of the earth. The auroral visoplot displayed here provided guidance for recording observations in a standardized form, translating the sublime aesthetics of pictorial depictions of aurorae into the mechanical aesthetics of numbers and symbols. Most of the portait photographs were taken by Skúli Sigurdsson RESEARCH REPORT 2010—2012 MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Introduction The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) is made up of three Departments, each administered by a Director, and several Independent Research Groups, each led for five years by an outstanding junior scholar. Since its foundation in 1994 the MPIWG has investigated fundamental questions of the history of knowl- edge from the Neolithic to the present. The focus has been on the history of the natu- ral sciences, but recent projects have also integrated the history of technology and the history of the human sciences into a more panoramic view of the history of knowl- edge. Of central interest is the emergence of basic categories of scientific thinking and practice as well as their transformation over time: examples include experiment, ob- servation, normalcy, space, evidence, biodiversity or force.
    [Show full text]
  • Tom Stoppard
    Tom Stoppard: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: Stoppard, Tom Title: Tom Stoppard Papers Dates: 1939-2000 (bulk 1970-2000) Extent: 149 document cases, 9 oversize boxes, 9 oversize folders, 10 galley folders (62 linear feet) Abstract: The papers of this British playwright consist of typescript and handwritten drafts, revision pages, outlines, and notes; production material, including cast lists, set drawings, schedules, and photographs; theatre programs; posters; advertisements; clippings; page and galley proofs; dust jackets; correspondence; legal documents and financial papers, including passports, contracts, and royalty and account statements; itineraries; appointment books and diary sheets; photographs; sheet music; sound recordings; a scrapbook; artwork; minutes of meetings; and publications. Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-4062 Language English. Arrangement Due to size, this inventory has been divided into two separate units which can be accessed by clicking on the highlighted text below: Tom Stoppard Papers--Series descriptions and Series I. through Series II. [Part I] Tom Stoppard Papers--Series III. through Series V. and Indices [Part II] [This page] Stoppard, Tom Manuscript Collection MS-4062 Series III. Correspondence, 1954-2000, nd 19 boxes Subseries A: General Correspondence, 1954-2000, nd By Date 1968-2000, nd Container 124.1-5 1994, nd Container 66.7 "Miscellaneous," Aug. 1992-Nov. 1993 Container 53.4 Copies of outgoing letters, 1989-91 Container 125.3 Copies of outgoing
    [Show full text]
  • Tapra 2015 Conference Programme P a G E | 1 TABLE of CONTENTS
    Conference 2015 Conference Programme 8th - 10th September 2015 PUBLISHERS AT TAPRA 2015 The following publishers will be present at the TaPRA 2015 Conference. Their display stands will be located in the Quandrangle Court where all refreshments and lunches will be served daily Manchester University Press Matthew Frost [email protected] Palgrave Macmillan Jenny McCall [email protected] Lucinda Knight [email protected] Bloomsbury Publishing Mark Dudgeon [email protected] Emily Hockley [email protected] Cambridge University Press Kerr Alexander [email protected] Routledge Marie Coffey [email protected] Claire Spence [email protected] Ben Piggott [email protected] Kate Edwards [email protected] Intellect [email protected] WELCOME TO TAPRA 2015 @ WORCESTER Last year we celebrated TaPRA @ 10 at Royal Holloway, this year we look forward to the next decade for TaPRA with our conference hosts at the University of Worcester. A record number of members booked early this year and we have a packed conference programme but, as always, there will be plenty of opportunities to meet old friends and make new connections with colleagues representing the rich and diverse research interests of our field. There are a number of ‘new’ things to note this year: a new Working Group, Performance and Science, has its first full meeting in Worcester, bringing the number of Working Groups to twelve, with a proposal for a thirteenth group, Asian Performance and Diaspora gathering to test the level of interest from the membership. Another initiative making its debut at Worcester is Research Matters, the first in a series of conference panels curated by TaPRA’s executive committee and designed to respond to issues of current importance to the wider research community.
    [Show full text]
  • STRIFE of BRIAN Science and Reflexive Reason As a Public Project
    STRIFE OF BRIAN Science and Reflexive Reason as a Public Project. An interview with Brian Wynne by Marie Antonsen & Rita Elmkvist Nilsen We met Brian Wynne in late April 2013. The place was Hell, Norway, which is nicer than it sounds, especially if you are attending the first Nordic STS Conference. We had recently established NJSTS, and when we heard that Brian Wynne was giving a keynote lecture at the conference, we took the opportunity to interview a pioneer in the field about the so-called political turn in STS. The topics of Wynne`s work ranges from technology and risk assessment, public risk perceptions, and public understanding of science, focusing on the relations between expert and lay knowledge and policy decision-making. He has promoted STS and its democratizing potential since the very beginning, and has never been known to shy away from the more controversial aspects of public understanding and engagement in science. Neither did he in this interview: It seems despite his strifes, he is still going with a strong programme. Professor Wynne has addended the interview with some clarifications and references. Keywords: Interview, expertise, democracy, science studies Corresponding author: Marie Antonsen Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Email: [email protected] Licensing: All content in NJSTS is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. This means that anyone is free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) or adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) the material as they like, provided they follow two provisions: a) attribution - give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
    [Show full text]
  • Networks of Expertise and Evidence for Public Policy Annual Report 2015 the Centre for Science and Policy in 2015
    Networks of Expertise and Evidence for Public Policy Annual Report 2015 The Centre for Science and Policy in 2015 The policy challenges facing our world today demand ever-greater foresight, ingenuity and a willingness to collaborate across sectors. As this report illustrates, “Over the seven years since its launch, the Centre for Science the Centre for Science and Policy has been helping its network to navigate and Policy has pioneered new ways of bringing academia and challenges from climate resilience to new forms of healthcare; from national government together to tackle policy challenges. CSaP has security to shaping innovation in the public interest. successfully promoted long-term thinking and more robust networks of expertise and evidence for public policy. The maturity of CSaP’s unique network of academics As he moves on to chair CSaP’s Advisory Council, I and policy makers is demonstrated by the breadth would like to express my gratitude to David for his Dr Robert Doubleday and depth of our work during 2015. Our network inspirational work in founding the Centre. Executive Director Centre for Science and Policy 2015 is the year in which the Centre came of age. Having now encompasses over 200 Fellows and more than served as its founding director from 2009 to 2015, I am 1100 researchers and, during the year, we welcomed In 2016, a year set to be every bit as challenging for delighted CSaP is playing a central role in supporting the more than 2500 participants to 43 events. governments as 2015 has been, CSaP’s role in brokering links between research and policy will be University’s mission, and that the Centre is in the excellent These achievements are testimony to the vision of more important than ever.
    [Show full text]
  • Preliminary Program
    Preliminary Program Society for Social Studies of Science 2015 Annual Meeting November 11-14 Denver, Colorado WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER, 11 Paper Session 8:30 to 10:00 am 001. 4S Publication Committee Meeting Denver Hotel: Director's Row J Business Meeting Participants: 1:00 to 3:00 pm Denver Hotel: Plaza Court 8 Extracting life: open pit mines on a Mars analog Filippo Bertoni, Aarhus University 002. 4S Council Meeting Making ‘artisanal’ miners, appropriating African mineral Business Meeting expertise Robyn d'Avignon, University of Michigan 3:00 to 6:00 pm What Lies Beneath: The Work of Mineral Reserves Reporting Denver Hotel: Plaza Court 8 Standards Marcus Wallner, Department of Social and 003. Presidential Plenary Economic Geography, Uppsala University Plenary Session Who Speaks for the Subsurface? A Decade of Groundwater 6:00 to 7:30 pm and Natural Gas Conflict in the Four Corners Region Denver Hotel: Plaza Ballroom A, B, C Adrianne Kroepsch, University of Colorado-Boulder Chair: Uranium Mining and Socioeconomic Expertise Charles de Gary Downey, Virginia Tech Souza, Virginia Tech 004. 4S Welcome Reception Discussant: Reception Abby Kinchy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 7:30 to 9:00 pm 008. Computing in Science: Infrastructure, Work, and Denver Hotel: Plaza Exhibit All Knowledge Paper Session 8:30 to 10:00 am THURSDAY, NOVEMBER, 12 Denver Hotel: Governor's Square 11 Participants: 005. Critical STS Approaches to Science Communication, I Collaborative Challenges in Interdisciplinary Data Science Paper Session Projects Theresa Velden, University
    [Show full text]
  • Conclusion: Rationality, Relativism and the Politics of Knowledge 213
    CONCLUSION Masons, Tricksters and RATIONALITY, RELATIVISM AND THE POLITICS OF Cartographers KNOWLEDGE Comparative Studies in the Sociology of Scientific and Indigenous Knowledge Public Knowledge and the Knowledge of the Public Thirty years ago John Ziman made a modest proposal that went some­ what unremarked in the midst of the Kuhnian revolutionary uproar.1 David Turnbull Science, he claimed, is basically social because it is as much driven by the need for consensus and convention as it is by logic and method. Science is first and foremost public knowledge. Now some of the social constraints on Ziman's slightly normative perspective on science as public knowledge have been very nicely delin­ eated in the work of Brian Wynne and others who have brought to light the problems experienced by members of the public in dealing with experts. They have found that science seamlessly interweaves memory, trust, uniformity, history and authority constructing the kind of knowledge space I have described earlier. But the universalised and standardised scientific expertise this produces connects very poorly to the lived experience of lay people and their local knowledge.2 The mismatch between 'public knowledge' and the 'knowledge of the public' is reflected in debates in other arenas about the lack of recognition of the role of 'social capital' and its associated decline and in debates about the supposed transition to reflexive modernity.3 One way of conceiving of social capital is as local knowledge manifested in participation, trust and cooperation of informal groupings, for example, commercial fishermen, neighbourhood watch and the PTA. The concept of social capital gives recognition to the value of the forms of lay knowledge embedded in the intricate varieties of horizontal con­ nectedness or informal Latourian networks not normally recognised by 1 Routledge th'e more formal, vertically connected, standardised forms of knowl­ 1~ Taylor &.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Think About Science.” Our Guest Is Brian Wynne of Lancaster University in the North of England
    IDEAS HOW TO THINK ABOUT SCIENCE: BRIAN WYNNE Paul Kennedy colleagues. Many of them were studying what goes on in I'm Paul Kennedy, and this is Ideas on “How to Think scientific laboratories or analyzing scientific About Science.” Technological science exerts a pervasive controversies⎯trying to observe scientific knowledge influence on contemporary life. It determines much of still, as it were, under construction. Brian Wynne wanted what we do, and almost all of how we do it. Yet science to understand how scientific knowledge exerts its and technology lie almost completely outside the realm of authority in public arenas. I interviewed Brian Wynne in political decision. No electorate ever voted to split atoms the fall of 2006. Fighting a bad cold, he told me a little of or insert DNA from one organism into another. No his story. He grew up in a village in the northwest of legislature ever authorized the iPod or the internet. Our England, and his academic ability got him to Cambridge civilization, consequently, is caught in a profound where in 1971 he completed a PhD in material science, the paradox. We glorify freedom and choice, but submit to the branch of physics that studies the properties of transformation of our culture by technoscience as a virtual engineering materials. Up to that point, he said, he had fate. Today on Ideas, we explore the relations between never really thought about the politics of science. But then politics and scientific knowledge, as we continue with our he had a fateful conversation. series “How To Think About Science.” Our guest is Brian Wynne of Lancaster University in the north of England.
    [Show full text]
  • Magdalene Matters the Newsletter of Magdalene College Cambridge MAGDALENE MAT TERS COMMENT from the Development Director Contents November 2013 | Issue 38
    November 2013 | issue 38 MAGDALENE MATTERS the newsletter of Magdalene College Cambridge MAGDALENE MAT TERS COMMENT from the Development Director CONTENTS November 2013 | issue 38 Seamus Heaney 3 Dear Member, The Parnell Fellowships 4–5 The long glorious summer here in Cambridge drew to a close to the sound of drills, hammers and The Spectre of Ethnic Cleansing in Ireland 6–7 mechanical diggers from River Court, where the kitchen refurbishment continues as described by Dawn of a New Era 8–9 the Senior Bursar on page 15. Returning students, freshers and visitors alike will have noticed the spectacular conservation, repainting and regilding of Insert: ANNUAL DONORS’ REPORT all the heraldic shields in First Court, as pictured on the front cover (and below) of this newsletter. Stone Circles in The Gambia 10 –11 You will notice that this issue of Magdalene Matters is Visiting Cambodia 12–13 thicker than usual. This is due to the inclusion of the Annual Donors’ Report, the third to date, which runs The College Kitchens Refurbishment 15 to a record 16 pages this year because of the number of Members and friends supporting the College. An Forthcoming Events & Reunions 16 unprecedented 18.8% of you have made a gift during 2012/13 and we are hoping to continue to persuade more of you that every gift, large or small, makes a Magdalene Matters is published by the Alumni & Development Office, real difference. Your wonderful generosity during the twice yearly, in Michaelmas and Easter terms. past financial year means that every student needing The front cover depicts the regilded Shields of the Abbeys (clockwise help to come up to Magdalene; encountering from top left): Ramsey, Walden, Ely, Crowland financial difficulties whilst here or requiring financial support to pursue further studies during the long vacation, is able to apply for and receive assistance from the College.
    [Show full text]
  • Participation Under Uncertainty
    Contributed paper at the Conference VALDOR 2003: Values in Decisions on Risk Stockholm, Sweden, June, 9-13, 2003 PARTICIPATION UNDER UNCERTAINTY Moses A. Boudourides Department of Mathematics University of Patras 265 00 Rio-Patras Greece [email protected] http://www.math.upatras.gr/~mboudour/ Abstract: This essay reviews a number of theoretical perspectives about uncertainty and participation in the present-day knowledge-based society. After discussing the on-going reconfigurations of science, technology and society, we examine how appropriate for policy studies are various theories of social complexity. Post-normal science is such an example of a complexity-motivated approach, which justifies civic participation as a policy response to an increasing uncertainty. But there are different categories and models of uncertainties implying a variety of configurations of policy processes. A particular role in all of them is played by expertise whose democratization is an often-claimed imperative nowadays. Moreover, we discuss how different participatory arrangements are shaped into instruments of policy- making and framing regulatory processes. As participation necessitates and triggers deliberation, we proceed to examine the role and the barriers of deliberativeness. Finally, we conclude by referring to some critical views about the ultimate assumptions of recent European policy frameworks and the conceptions of civic participation and politicization that they invoke. Contents Science, Technology & Society ...................................................................................2
    [Show full text]