Government Science & Engineering e-Newsletter
Monday, 30 April 2012
Dear Colleague
In a move away from the norm, we look outside the civil service this month to bring you inspiring national and international news in science and engineering.
We report on events that celebrate the best in science and engineering including an important NASA event at Met Office headquarters and world-wide plans to celebrate the life of a great scientist and mathematician, Alan Turing.
Engineers both inside and outside government are especially being honoured this month. The House of Commons has published a report today to highlight the critical role they play in the civil service; and a new global £1M Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is now up for grabs. GSE members are encouraged to nominate engineers who have made real differences to our civilisation. If you know of an inspiring and innovative female scientist or engineer working in your organisation, why not nominate them for a WISE award as well?
You might also be interested in the analysis and recommendations of the Royal Society of Edinburgh about the role of women in STEM, in its new report 'Tapping Our Talents: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - a Strategy for Scotland'; then join in the discussion on GSE LinkedIn.
We welcome your questions, comments and contributions, so please email us at GSE@bis.gov.uk. If you missed any past GSE newsletters, you can read them online.
Kind regards,
The Skills & Profession Development Team, Government Office for Science
Contents
Articles
House of Commons recognises the critical role of engineers in government
The House of Commons Committee for Science and Technology has published a report today, Monday 30 April 2012, which is a follow up to its 2009 publication: ‘Engineering: turning ideas into reality’. In this latest report, the Committee highlights the critical role of engineers in the civil service and praises the Government and engineering community for the steps taken since 2009 to integrate engineering expertise and concerns into the formulation of policy.
The report examines the progress made in recognising the importance of engineering in the civil service. The Committee is pleased that the Government has begun identifying engineers in the civil service, through GSE. The Government Chief Scientific Adviser was commended for raising the profile of engineering advice. However, there is no room for complacency and the Government is urged to ensure that engineering continues to have a high profile in policy, and particularly in policy development. The committee also commends the work of the Engineering the Future alliance in coordinating engineering advice for government.
The full report is available from the Committee's web page. We are keen to hear views from GSE members, including suggestions on what more we can do to raise the profile of engineers in the civil service and ensure the best engineering expertise is engaged at all stages of decision making.
Email us at GSE@bis.gov.uk or post your views on LinkedIn.
Met Office welcomes NASA
The Met Office headquarters in Exeter hosted the European lead event of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge over the weekend of 21-22 April 2012. An initiative of the Open Government Partnership, the event is one of several around the world to showcase the impact that people working together around the world can have on addressing challenges of global importance. The events focus on four challenge areas - software, open hardware, citizen science and data visualisation - providing a platform for innovation and collaborative problem solving.
60 software developers, including Met Office employees, had two days to create, build, and invent new solutions. Working together in small teams they used Open Government data resulting from space technology, including Met Office Datapoint. Teams participated in challenges including #hazardmap – harnessing real-time information from social media during natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes and #predictthesky - an app to predict when cloud conditions would enable you to watch astronomical phenomena such as meteor showers.
Nick Skytland, Programme Manager for NASA Open Government Initiative opened the event saying “It’s great to be here collaborating with the Met Office and all of the supporting organisations. The Met Office truly represents the future of using Open Data and Open Source to drive initiative across government.”
The teams presented their projects to a panel of judges, who were impressed by the collaboration and progress made on all of the challenges. Further details, including an outline of the two winning solutions, are available from the Met Office. For more information please contact Huw Lewis at the Met Office.
Innovative Detection Techniques – Cross-government Research Programme bears fruit
The 2007 Explosives and Weapons Detection Innovative Research Programme ended in March 2012 and the results are already being applied. One project in particular delivered a successful commercial product which is now approved for use in European airports following live testing for liquids detection applications.
This cross-government programme was jointly funded by CONTEST, CPNI, DfT, Home Office CAST, MPS and MoD. They invited project proposals from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), industry and academic suppliers in a range of thematic areas including;
- Checkpoint screening
- Standoff screening
- Small Object / liquid screening
- Vehicle / cargo screening
16 projects were selected through competition and assessment by a panel consisting of representatives of all the participating departments. Most of the projects progressed from TRL (technology readiness level) 1 or 2 through to TRL 4 or 5 over the course of the contracts, bringing them closer to commercial reality. A new call was issued in 2010, joined by a new funding partner from the US-DHS, under the following themes:-
- Detection of Bulk Materials, Devices and Weapons
- Identification of Threat Signatures (Including Vapour and Trace)
- Human Factors & Behavioural Science
- System Level Innovation
10 projects were then selected through competition and assessment from all the funding partners. So far four are completed and one of these has also successfully delivered a commercial product that has been approved for use and is being deployed at checkpoints. The 2010 call is due to end in 2014, so watch this space!
For more information on this programme please visit Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) website or contact Lynne Head.
Open Systems in the Land Domain Conference, 19 June 2012
MOD Defence Equipment and Support is organising a one-day conference to discuss the application of open architectures and systems in a military context. The conference takes place on 19 June 2012 at Doubletree by Hilton, Milton Keynes, the day before the 2012 DVD (Defence Vehicle Dynamics) exhibition at nearby Millbrook Proving Ground on 20 and 21 June 2012.
Military units (e.g. an infantry platoon) consist of 3 basic platforms: soldiers, vehicles and headquarters or bases, all of which need to be interoperable. The Land Open System Architecture (LOSA) is the mechanism through which MOD intends to develop systems integration and interoperability to ensure coherency for military units for peace time training and for operations, now and into the future. Standardised interfaces between the infrastructure, power and data mean that sub-systems can be quickly and easily added, changed or upgraded. The standards will be important to anyone in industry wishing to build a future sub-system, to ensure that it will be compatible with the infrastructure.
The conference aims to bring together representatives from Military Staffs, Government Procurement Agencies, Research and Development Staffs and Industry from around the world. There will be keynote addresses by Major General Carew Wilkes, Director Land Equipment and Lieutenant General Gary Coward (Land).
Following the conference there will be an ADS Land Reception. For further information and registration, please download a form from ADS website, and contact Kelly Wyatt for any questions.
Nominations now open for Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
The search is on for an outstanding engineering-led advance that has produced tangible and widespread public benefit, with a new global £1M prize at stake.
Engineering underpins almost every detail of modern life. The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering has been set up to celebrate world-changing advances in engineering that have made a difference to humanity and inspire a new generation of engineers to take up the challenges of the future.
An impressive line-up of international judges, including TV personality and physicist Prof. Brian Cox, will form a panel chaired by Prof. Lord Broers, previous President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, to select the winning project.
GSE members are encouraged to send in their nominations. The only restrictions are that individuals cannot nominate themselves or a member of their families, and the prize will not be awarded posthumously. The deadline for nominations is 14 September. The first winner will be announced in Spring 2013.
Visit the website for more information.
2012 WISE Awards open for nominations
Do you work with an inspiring or innovative female scientist or engineer? The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Awards are presented in recognition of the achievement of companies and individuals in promoting science, engineering and construction to girls and young women. Categories include:
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Celebrating women who are creating significant change, making discoveries, innovating processes, establishing new ventures and helping the UK excel in science, engineering and technology.
- Communication and Outreach - Paying tribute to women who are communicating about science, engineering and technology within local communities, bringing their work and thereby the wider role of science, engineering and technology to children, schools, families, journalists, policy makers and many other audiences.
- Leadership and Inspiration - Profiling the women who are leading STEM businesses, research teams, academic organisations or professional bodies - women who are creating change and transforming culture and ways of working. Inspiring women may also be emerging as leaders after taking an atypical route and overcoming challenges to progress, or as an advocate and mentor, supporting and developing others and leading them to success.
- Lifetime Achievement - Paying tribute to women who have significantly achieved in SET over their career lifetime and who through their work have inspired future generations of women to pursue a SET career.
For more details on the awards, previous winners and how to nominate, click here.
Events to celebrate Alan Turing's Centenary Birthday
23 June 2012 marks the 100th birthday of Alan Turing, a London-born mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist who was highly influential in the development of computer science. Turing played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer and is widely considered to be the father of artificial intelligence. He was also a civil servant who led on deciphering codes during the Second World War and designed the first stored-programme computer at the National Physical Laboratory.
As he approaches his 100th birthday, Turing is being celebrated internationally, and across the UK, for his outstanding contribution to science and engineering. GSE members may wish to join in these celebrations and learn more about Turing and his achievements.
Please visit Turing’s centenary website if you would like to find out about the series of events happening in UK and abroad throughout the year. Some of the events include: a 100th birthday party at King’s College in Cambridge on 15-16 June and a special event at the National Museum of Computing on 26 April which is the second of three Turing-themed events linking three of the top computing museums in the world.
SSO Vacancy in the Home Office
A vacancy has come up in the Home Office for the position of Secretary to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Brief description
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is a statutory Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Home Office. The purpose of the ACMD Secretary is to support the work of the ACMD and ensure its smooth operation in providing advice to Ministers on the harms of drugs.
Background
The post will based in the Science Secretariat within Home Office Science. The Unit is headed by the Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) who provides scientific advice and support for all aspects of the Home Office’s work.
This is an exciting opportunity to work in high profile and a frequently demanding area on the interface between science and policy. The successful candidate will work closely with the Chief Scientific Adviser and Chair of the ACMD and its members and have opportunity to develop relationships with a number of internal and external partner organisations.
If you would like to discuss this role in more detail please contact Will Reynolds or call 0207 035 0454. Alternatively, learn more about it and apply on Civil Service Jobs website (login required).
Applications will close 11th May 2012.
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The GSE e-Newsletter is produced by the Government Office for Science (GO-Science). It is circulated on a monthly basis and highlights areas of interest to the profession, including news updates, highlights of departmental activities, and details of events. The newsletter is for all civil servants with a science and/or engineering background or those with a strong interest in matters relating to the profession.
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