Cuts to funding for science

 

Scientists newsletter

Cuts to ODA funding for science Recent cuts to the Official Development Assistance’s (ODA) R&D budget will reduce the funding available to Royal Society programmes, such as FLAIR, by around 70%. Richard Catlow, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, expressed his concern over the cuts which will affect early career researchers:   "While we battle a once in a generation pandemic, and with the UK at the helm of the G7 and COP26 summits, now is not the time to withdraw funding from a talented pool of researchers who have much to offer the UK and the world." Read more Listen now: BBC World Service Science in Action talks to researchers including Royal Society FLAIR fellow, Christopher Trisos, about the impact of the UK funding cuts to science in the UK and developing countries. Long COVID: what can we learn? Very little is known about long COVID at the moment, despite some studies estimating that 1 in 20 are affected. Large-scale research projects and population studies are now looking at the reported symptoms to understand what long COVID is, why some people are affected for months, and how we can treat it. Join Professor Brian Cox online on 8 April at 6pm as he talks to scientists working at the forefront of research into long COVID, and campaigners with personal experience of the devastating effect it can have on lives. Find out more This event is part of a series of Royal Society events discussing the scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Catch up with the first event on the Royal Society’s YouTube channel.

Agreement enabling Horizon Europe for UK researchers Now that an agreement has been reached within the EU following Brexit, the Royal Society is working to ensure that the UK remains an open and collaborative science nation attracting people and investment from all over the world.   The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement allows for the UK to participate in Horizon Europe as an associated country with access to the European Research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, grants from the European Innovation Council and other key schemes.    Our new Q&As seek to provide some answers: find out more on the UK’s participation in EU programmes including Horizon Europe and on the policies regarding visas and immigration issues and regulations affecting science.  Read more

Call for STEM sector to join forces to end disparities for Black and ethnic minority scientists Two reports published today using Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) data lay out the “unacceptable” disparities for Black, Asian and ethnic minority students and staff in UK STEM higher education over the past 10 years, and in the pool of UK-based researchers eligible to apply for the Society’s own early career fellowship grants.   “This data is so potent because it looks at these trends over ten years and shows where there might be systemic issues at play and where collective action is required." Dr Mark Richard, Imperial College London and member of the Royal Society’s Diversity Committee Read more

Industry Fellowships This long-standing scheme enables the mobility of talented scientists and engineers from industry and academia to move between sectors. These secondments support the researcher's development, fosters exchange of knowledge, stimulates longer-term collaborations, and establishes personal, scientific and corporate links between sectors.   The Society has partnered with Konfer, an innovation brokerage platform, to support applicants to the Industry Fellowship in finding potential collaborators for their grant application. Visit the 'Experts' tab on Konfer to find researchers working in your field to develop new industry-academia partnerships.   View scheme notes (PDF) Apply now Deadline: Tuesday 20 April 2021, 3pm

Fast radio bursts Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are short (few millisecond) bursts of radio waves observed from cosmological distances. Their origin is presently unknown, yet their rate is many hundreds per sky per day, indicating a not-uncommon phenomenon in the Universe. In her talk on 27 April at 6.30pm, Professor Kaspi reviews the FRB field and presents new results on FRBs from a new digital transit radio telescope, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). Register now How did sperm whales outwit 19th century whalers? In a study published in our journal Biology Letters, researchers analysed data from logbooks of 19th century American whalers in the North Pacific. The analysis found that the rate at which whalers succeeded in harpooning sighted whales fell by about 58% over the first few years of exploitation. This decline cannot be explained by the earliest whalers being more competent, nor by the initial killing of particularly vulnerable individuals. Instead, it seems that kin-based social units quickly learned effective defensive measures from one another: an unusual instance of rapid and large-scale cultural change outside humans. Read more Biology Letters is a short-format journal, ideal for researchers who have datasets and studies that don’t require much space to unpack ideas. The journal is an ideal starting point for early-career researchers who are just beginning to publish their studies. State of the planet: how human activity is driving climate change With human activity driving climate change at an alarming rate, Corinne Le Quéré and Joanna Haigh address the global action that needs to be taken to minimise our impact on the planet. Read more Watch now: The genetics of Covid-19 Recently detected variants of coronavirus have thrown a spotlight on the genetic evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. Evolutionary epidemiologist Katrina Lythgoe introduces us to the SARS CoV-2 particle, explains how mutations occur and how they can be picked up through genetic sequencing. Watch now Image credits Fast radio bursts: Andre Renard, CHIME Collaboration Social learning among sperm whales: Oliver Wilcox, whaler, 1837; courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, MA, USA State of the planet: © NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens