Government Science & Engineering e-Newsletter
Friday, 26 August 2011
Dear Colleague
Welcome to the August issue of the GSE Newsletter
August is usually a quiet month with many of us enjoying well-earned summer holidays or some time to step back and plan for the future. Hence we present to you a special issue this month focussed on professional development and careers. Check out the Linkedin discussion group to share your views on this topic, and on having a chartered status, with other GSE members.
As ever, please feel free to send us your comments and suggestions for improving our services by emailing us at GSE@bis.gov.uk.
Contents
Articles
Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
It would be hard to find a more diverse body of expertise or more highly qualified professional community within Government than the GSE. But in order to have the greatest impact, we need to maintain and develop our professional skills and be able to work effectively with other professional groups in the civil service. We must maintain our networks, keep abreast of advancements in our discipline, and hone our communications and influencing skills.
To support GSE members who wish to maintain and further their science and engineering skills and abilities, the Skills and Profession Development team in GO-Science is working with department and agency HoSEPs to develop a GSE handbook on Continuous Professional Development (CPD). We hope to launch the handbook at the GSE annual conference early next year. A draft version is available to download from the GSE website on which we would like you to send us your comments and suggestions. Please email us at GSE@bis.gov.uk by 31st October 2011.
GSE Mentoring Scheme
As part of the theme on professional development this year, GSE is considering introducing a mentoring scheme for members. Mentoring is a great way of sharing knowledge and developing new skills whilst saving departments a significant amount that would have otherwise been allocated to external training courses. For the recipients, it presents a real potential benefit in terms of career progression.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) defines mentoring as “a technique that allows the transmission of knowledge, skills and experience in a supportive and challenging environment much like coaching through questioning, listening, clarifying and reframing. Mentoring relationships can be long term and work best when they move beyond the directive approach to one where both learn from each other.” To read a factsheet on ‘Coaching and Mentoring’, please visit CIPD website. (Free registration is required.)
We believe that a GSE mentoring scheme offers members opportunities to improve and develop professional skills. Realising this plan however entirely depends on demand and supply capacity so we would like to hear from you if you identify with one of the statements in the headings below ideally with your answers to the two questions under each heading. We will then contact you individually to enquire further about your specific interests and requirements.
I would like to mentor fellow GSE members.
- Have you had any formal or informal mentoring training? Or would you be interested in such training if we were able to arrange it for you?
- What is your specialism and what could your mentee(s) expect to get out of the mentoring relationship?
I would like to be mentored by a GSE member.
- What would you like to achieve through mentoring?
- What is your specialism within science and engineering?
Please reply to GSE@bis.gov.uk by 23 September 2011.
Invitation to the Royal Academy of Engineering Debate
Monday 5th September, 6pm for 6.30pm, The Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE
Natural Resources in the Global Economy - Debate 1
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) launches its 2011 series of debates on 5th September by tackling the issues resulting from the non-uniform distribution of energy resources across the globe. Once again the Academy plans a programme of three debates which will bring together industry leaders, policy makers, engineers and economists.
The debates will also provide participants with an important opportunity to influence policy: key messages emerging from the series will be captured in a report to policy makers and will form the basis of future Academy work in this area. The Natural Resources in the Global Economy debates follow last year's very successful series on Competing in the Global Economy. The motion to be addressed at this first debate is:
This House believes that technology will play a greater role than governments in tackling the problems caused by the non-uniform global distribution of energy resources.
The event will be chaired by Professor Sir William Wakeham FREng, Senior Vice-President and Honorary International Secretary of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Alasdair Grainger, an active GSE member from Department of Energy and Climate Change, will sit on the panel.
You are therefore warmly invited to come along and support your fellow GSE member! For further details, please visit RAEng website.
The Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets
The ‘Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets’ Foresight project aims to make a contribution to the efficiency, integrity and resilience of financial markets by identifying options for policy makers in the UK and internationally. This September, Foresight will run three international industry workshops. These will serve to create a number of different ‘scenarios’ for how the future of computer trading in financial markets will evolve, and will form a key part of the project’s overall evidence base. The workshops will take place in London, Singapore and New York and each involve approximately 25 senior financial markets experts.
Last month, senior experts from the fields of finance, trade and regulation who provide guidance to the project met to discuss the risks caused by technological advances in computer trading for investors, businesses and the public. The meeting brought together representatives from the International Monetary Fund, Bank of England, Bloomberg and Hong Kong Stock Exchange among others and was chaired by Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban MP.
Further information:
Press release on July's meeting of senior experts.
Foresight's project on the Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets.
About the GSE e-Newsletter
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.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who you think might be interested. If they would like to receive future copies directly from us, they can join the network by completing our short online registration survey.