ISSUE 40 SUMMER 2013 resource The Newsle/er of Scotland’s Na.onal Academy The RSE commissioned one of Scotland’s leading artists, Victoria Crowe OBE FRSE, to paint a portrait of Professor Peter Higgs CH FRS FRSE. The portrait was unveiled on the occasion Photograph ®Kenneth Gray of the Fellows’ Summer Recep7on at the RSE on 14 June 2013 Also featured in this issue: New Portrait Gallery of Mathematicians Visit to the European Parliament Latest on the Constitutional Debate resource SUMMER 2013 Portrait Unveiled Professor Peter Higgs CH FRS FRSE In order to commemorate the discovery of the Higgs Boson, and to honour the man whose outstanding research was central to proposing its existence, the RSE commissioned Victoria Crowe OBE, FRSE (pictured below right) to paint a portrait of Professor Peter Higgs. The pain7ng was unveiled at the RSE on the occasion of the Fellows’ Summer Recep7on in June 2013. The unveiling was followed by a discussion about the portrait between ar7st and si8er, which provided a fascina7ng insight into the way that Victoria was able to capture Peter’s personality on canvas. Professor Duncan Macmillan FRSE (below le' with Professor Higgs) set the context for that discussion with a percep7ve presenta7on about the ar7st and her work. The portrait will hang on the walls of the Kelvin Room, within the RSE’s pres7gious premises on George Street, Edinburgh. Photographs ®Kenneth Gray Horizon 2020 On 30 May 2013, the RSE took a group of 25 academics and university research funding administrators to the European Parliament in Brussels. The purpose of the visit was to learn more about the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 funding programme, which will replace the current Framework Programmes. The funding is currently under nego7a7on, but is expected to be at least €70 billion. The group was welcomed by Alyn Smith MEP, whose office organised and funded the visit. • John Smith, Deputy Secretary General Most Sco9sh Universi7es were The group met with three of the six (Research & Innova7on) of the represented in the group and a wealth Sco9sh MEPs and learned how the European University Associa7on (EUA); of informa7on was gained, including: European Parliament operates and about its rela7onship with the Council • Benjamin Turner, Policy Analyst in the • the funding available through of the European Union and the Support to the Scien7fic Council unit Horizon 2020; of the European Research Centre (ERC); European Commission. The group • the three priority areas (Excellent then had a series of mee7ngs which • Sco9sh Government EU Office officials; Science; Industrial Leadership; included presenta7ons from: and Societal Challenges); • Luca Polizzi and Charles Abbo8 of Scotland Europa; and • the 7meline – first call expected on 1 January 2014. • Brendan Hawdon, Head of Unit – Framework Programme, DG Research and Innova7on, European Commission. Presenta7ons from this visit can (le ) Bristow Muldoon, RSE Head be found on the RSE website at: of Policy & Parliamentary Affairs www.rse.org.uk/news/news.php?id=156 and Press is interviewed in Brussels. 2 resource SUMMER 2013 RSE Fellows Honoured The RSE offers its congratula7ons to the following Fellows who recently have been honoured in various ways: Newly-appointed Corresponding Fellow, Professor Robbert The following RSE Fellows were elected Fellows of the Royal Dijkgraaf, leads the procession a'er the inaugura7on ceremony Society on 3 May 2013: of King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands at New Church on Professor Keith Ball, (below le') Scien7fic Director, 30 April 2013 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Interna7onal Centre for Mathema7cal Sciences; Professor William Earnshaw, Professor and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh; Sir John Savill, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh; Chief Execu7ve of the Medical Research Council in the UK; Professor Paul Sharp, (below right) Professor of Gene7cs, University of Edinburgh. Source: Jasper Juinen/Ge0y Images Europe Professor Marc Mangel CorrFRSE has been selected as a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathema7cs (SIAM). This Fellowship honours individuals who have made Honoured in Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours List outstanding contribu7ons to the fields served by the in 2013 were: organisa7on – applied mathema7cs in partnership with computa7on science. Knight Bachelor: Jonathan Mills, Director and Chief Execu7ve, Edinburgh Interna7onal Fes7val. Professor Terence Trusco/, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Keele University, was elected a Fellow of the Learned Order of the Bri.sh Empire; Commander (CBE): Society of Wales in April 2013. Professor Hugh Pennington, Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology, University of Aberdeen. Professor Philip Schlesinger's appointment as Visi7ng Order of the Bri.sh Empire; Officer (OBE): Professor of Media and Communica7ons at the London Professor James Hough, FRS. Chief Execu7ve, School of Economics and Poli7cal Science has been Sco9sh Universi7es Physics Alliance and Research extended for a second term, to 30 September 2016. Professor in Natural Philosophy, University of Glasgow. Professor Marian Wiercigroch (le') has been awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by Lodz University of Technology (LUT) in Poland, joining an elite group of leading scien7sts and poli7cal dignitaries who have been honoured by the Polish university. LUT senate (right) during the ceremony. 3 resource SUMMER 2013 Enlightening the Constitutional Debate A series of discussion events to enlighten the public debate on Scotland’s constitutional future. Should Scotland be an independent country? Its people will decide in September 2014 and the series of events being run by the RSE in partnership with the Bri7sh Academy is already making an important contribu7on to the public debate which surrounds such a significant 7me in Scotland’s history. The contribu7on began with a joint report published in September 2012. From this has grown a series of discussion events which so far has addressed, in more detail, issues concerning Scotland and the European Union, Tax and Spending, Defence and Interna7onal Rela7ons and The Real Economy. Reports of the discussions which flowed from these highly informa7ve and fully subscribed events are publicly available on the Society’s website (see below), as are video recordings of the three that have been held in the Society’s Rooms in Edinburgh. Pictured (above) the debate on Defence and Interna7onal Rela7ons, with the panel, comprising: Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin, (Chair) President of the Royal Bri7sh Legion for Scotland; Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford, Stuart Crawford Associates, former SNP defence advisor; Dr Phillips O'Brien, Reader in Modern History and Convenor of the Global Security Network; Professor William Walker, Professor of Interna7onal Rela7ons, University of St Andrews; Rt Hon Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, (le') Former Secretary General of NATO and former Secretary of State for Defence. Forthcoming events in the series are: 24 July Currency, Banking and Financial Services at The Bri7sh Academy, London 24 August Culture and Broadcas/ng at The Sco9sh Parliament, Edinburgh 25 September Borders, Immigra/on and Ci/zenship at the RSE, Edinburgh 17 October Science and Higher Educa/on at The University of Aberdeen 20 November Welfare and Public Services at The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow February 2014 Historical, Legal and Cons/tu/onal Issues at The Bri7sh Academy, London Reports and video recordings of past events and details of events to come are available (and will be regularly updated) at: www.royalsoced.org.uk/1061_EnlighteningtheCons.tu.onalDebate.html Scotland and the United Kingdom. The full ini7al report produced by the RSE and the BA in September 2012 is available online at: www/rse/org.uk/cms/files/advice-papers/2012/scotland_in_the_UK.pdf 4 resource SUMMER 2013 Spreading the benefits of digital participation Since its launch in February, the RSE Inquiry into Digital Par7cipa7on has been running consulta7on sessions with a range of stakeholders. The Inquiry has so far engaged with local businesses, statutory and voluntary sector representa7ves, representa7ves from the RSE Young Academy of Scotland, and representa7ves from the accessibility sector. Through consulta7on with these groups, the Inquiry has gathered feedback on the benefits and risks of increasing digital par7cipa7on across different sectors of society, and the barriers to par7cipa7on experienced by different groups. At a consulta7on event in Dumfries, the Inquiry met with the owners and directors of local SMEs and heard about some of the challenges encountered by them in maximising the benefits of digital media. A key message from this consulta7on was that, par7cularly for small businesses, ‘one size does not necessarily fit all’ when it comes to how the internet can be used to improve business. For businesses selling unique products, access to a global market through online sales was thought to be extremely useful. For businesses selling globally- available products to a local market, however, internet sales were not thought to represent a relevant market. In this instance, a roundtable discussion helped some of these businesses to iden7fy other ways by which an internet presence might assist their sales; for example by flagging their presence on Google Maps and other naviga7on so'ware. The session was useful and informa7ve, and provided some excellent examples of how innova7ve use of the internet could vastly