SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT 7 1 0 2 R E T The Journal of the N Parliamentary and I Scientific Committee sip W 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 Ergon omi cs & Huma n F ac tor s 2 018 Learn. Me et. Di scuss. Be in spir ed. 23 – 2 5 A pril 2 018 / B irmingham Location Outstanding keynotes The Hilton Birmingham Metropole will be the home for EHF2018, centrally Nancy Cooke – Professor of human systems located in the country and easily engineering, Arizona State University accessible from everywhere. Commodore David Bartlett The hotel is next to Birmingham – Safety Director , Royal Navy International train station and Birmingham Airport. Todd Conklin – Human and organisation performance consultant, Los Alamos National Laboratory Graham Braithwaite – Director of T ransport Systems and Professor of Safety and Accident Investigation, Cranfield University k u A wide-ranging programme . This three-day conference is the largest of its type and showcases the g very latest developments, achievements and challenges in all areas r of ergonomics and human factors. The packed programme features o . presentations, workshops, discussions and posters covering exciting s new themes: life in the smart age; autonomous control; physiological c measures and vigilance and fatigue. The emphasis will also be on i cross-sector learning, establishing human factors in new domains, and we will be considering what works and doesn’t work in practice. m You will be able to connect with people o from all sectors to exchange ideas and n information from an academic, practitioner and customer perspective, as well as to o enjoy lively and fun social evenings. g r e Register . For details about the programme s and to register please go to t events.ergonomics.org.uk n Use discount code SIP10 to receive e 10% discount off the standard rates. v e continuing to promote dialogue Committee Annual Lunch. This between the scientific and event gave our parliamentary SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT research community and members the opportunity to parliamentarians. We recently meet and network with guests held a discussion meeting on from our scientific and technical, Science, Innovation and Brexit university and commercial where progress with the priorities membership. We had two sip for science and innovation in excellent speakers, Lisa Anson Brexit discussions was President of Astra Zeneca UK deliberated. A report of and Sinead Lynch, Chair of Shell The Journal of the Parliamentary and discussions can be found in this Scientific Committee. Stephen Metcalfe MP, UK who gave guests their unique The Parliamentary and Scientific Chairman, Parliamentary and edition. perspective of the current Committee is an All-Party Scientific Committee Parliamentary Group of members of Also in this edition, you will find situation in the pharmaceutical both Houses of Parliament and British reports from recent P&SC and energy sectors. members of the European Parliament, representatives of scientific and Welcome to the winter edition of discussion meetings on Human Finally, I would like to draw your technical institutions, industrial Science in Parliament. It has Fungal Diseases and Space attention to our flagship event, organisations and universities. been a busy couple of sessions Weather. Alongside this are the finals of STEM for BRITAIN, over Autumn/Winter 2017 for fascinating insights into the role our annual poster competition of universities in providing Parliament and for the for early career scientists. The evidence to policymakers and Parliamentary and Scientific finals will be taking place on the latest on the future of Committee. Much of the focus Monday 12th March in the Atlee hydrogen as fuel to help within Parliament has been on Suite in Portcullis House. We implement the Clean Growth the Brexit negotiations with welcome attendance from all Strategy. Science in Parliament has two main several lengthy sessions debating parliamentarians and I hope to objectives: proposed amendments to the We were pleased to welcome see you there. Further details 1. to inform the scientific and Brexit Bill. P&SC is helping to over 100 guests to the can be found at industrial communities of activities within Parliament of a scientific inform Brexit discussions by Parliamentary and Scientific www.stemforbritain.org.uk nature and of the progress of relevant legislation; 2. to keep Members of Parliament abreast of scientific affairs. CONTENTS FOREWORD 1 INNOVATION IN THE CLEAN GROWTH STRATEGY: UPDATE FROM HOC LIBRARY 23 Stephen Metcalfe MP THE FUTURE OF HYDROGEN IN THE UK 12 NEWS FROM POST 23 Matt Whitney EYES IN SPACE ADVANCING WEATHER SELECT COMMITTEES UPDATE 24 FORECASTING AND CLIMATE SCIENCE 2 BIG BANG @ PARLIAMENT 14 Roger Saunders Gemma Wood SCIENCE DIRECTORY 28 SCIENCE PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION SHOWS ANTIFUNGAL STEWARDSHIP 16 SCIENCE DIARY 37 RESEARCH IN ACTION 6 Rosemary Barnes PARLIAMENTARY AND SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND BREXIT 17 ANNUAL LUNCH 7 Elizabeth Dellar Isabel Spence SCIENCE AND STORMONT 19 EVIDENCE INFORMED POLICY MAKING AND THE Leigh Jeffes ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES 10 SCIENCE AND THE PARLIAMENT 21 Gavin Costigan Bristow Muldoon Science in Parliament | Vol 73 No 4 | Winter 2017 1 EYES IN SPACE ADVANCING WEATHER FORECASTING AND CLIMATE SCIENCE Measurements of the atmosphere have come a long way since the introduction of the mercury barometer in the 17th century. Satellites now monitor the weather on our planet over all locations and as often as every 15 minutes using a combination of geostationary and polar orbits. These developments have transformed our understanding of the atmosphere and our ability to predict changes in the weather and their impacts. This transformation has allowed weather forecasts to become better Dr Roger Saunders Head Satellite Applications trusted and embedded in decision-making for all sorts of sectors Met Office, Exeter from aviation and energy to civil contingencies and defence. OBSERVING THE winds over the ocean and cloud observations from sources such WEATHER FROM THE properties can all be retrieved as balloons and aircraft still have GROUND AND FROM from the satellite observations. a significant impact and are SPACE There are many more variables crucial to ‘anchor’ the satellite Conventional ground-based which can be inferred from the observations to a known and balloon meteorological data for climate monitoring such reference. as greenhouse gas observations are concentrated The satellite data received at concentrations, sea-ice coverage over Northern Hemisphere land the Met Office in near real time and sea level. with few observations over the for assimilation into our forecast oceans. As a result, they can’t Regular assessments are models is provided by several provide a full picture of the undertaken into the contribution space and meteorological global atmosphere. In contrast that observations make to the agencies around the world. Due satellites can measure the skill of the weather forecast. to the scale of investment atmospheric temperature and These show that satellite involved in satellite observations, water vapour profiles across measurements now dominate these long-standing international remote and distant areas using a and are a major factor in the partnerships are vital to the variety of techniques. improvements gained in success of weather and climate Additionally, three dimensional accuracy since 2000. At the science, allowing countries to winds by tracking clouds, surface same time, conventional work together to achieve Plot showing the relative contribution of different observation types to our 24 hour global weather forecast. 2 Science in Parliament | Vol 73 No 4 | Winter 2017 Copernicus programme, which balancing the need for detailed are providing valuable data for forecasts with the computational marine and land surface cost of running these. applications and in the future Model Global UK for air quality. Grid width 10km 1.5km FROM OBSERVATIONS Vertical levels 70 70 TO PREDICTIONS (up to (up to Satellite data are assimilated 80km) 40km) alongside a range of ground- based observations into the Met Time step 4 mins 1 min Office forecast model (the Forecast length 6 days 5 days Unified Model) to create an analysis from which our The steps involved in producing a weather forecast Since 1990 our research and forecasts are run. Millions of development has allowed us to common goals. The Met Office • The National Oceanic and observations are collected from reduce the horizontal scale of represents the UK in many of Atmospheric Administration around the world every day, as our global model from 90km these partnerships, working (NOAA) in the USA have having an accurate picture of the down to 10km. This has only across the science landscape provided satellite data for current conditions is vital to been possible with the with organisations such as the meteorology at no cost for predicting how the atmosphere increasing power of computers UK Space Agency to ensure that many years and have a is likely to evolve. This and the Met Office is now the UK is able to make the most continuing commitment with assimilation cycle uses the latest home to the world’s largest