Dear all,
The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE,
to which both our parent societies belong) has written a
letter to the government about the Cabinet Office's adding
a clause, from May this year, to prevent government-funded
research grants from being used to "lobby for new regulation
or more government funding". An article on the clause and
CaSE's (widely shared) concerns has been published at:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2016/feb/18/the-anti-lobbying-clause-will-undermine-evidence-policy-and-the-public-interest
As drafted, the Government's proposed change would make
it difficult to make public recommendations based on
research (particularly in controversial areas such as
climate change) without the researcher being accused of
"lobbying".
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-new-clause-to-be-inserted-into-grant-agreements
The Veterinary Record has an editorial on this at:
veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/178/10/224.full
with bovine TB as an example.
Given that geophysics research includes controversial and
topical areas (e.g. radioactive waste disposal and "fracking"
as well as climate change) we thought it important to let BGA
members know of this possible change to the law, and
consider what action to take.
Sheila Peacock,
list co-owner;
member of BGA Committee.
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