Author Archives: Philippa Skett
Biology competitions: a rewarding challenge
Raghavendra Selvam is our competitions & outreach assistant, overseeing the competitions we run here at the RSB It is Monday morning and thousands of school students from across the world are logging into their computers to complete an optional biology paper. Why? They are all curious about the natural world. This year, I have been … Continue reading
General Election 2017: a summary on some of the party positions on science
Justina Briliute, BBSRC PhD student at Newcastle University and a policy intern at the Royal Society of Biology Throughout the years, political parties have shown commitment to the idea that research and development (R&D) is one of the driving forces of societal productivity, wealth and wellbeing. One of the best places to look for any … Continue reading
Raising awareness for diversity and inclusion across membership organisations
Justina Briliute, BBSRC PhD student at Newcastle University and a policy intern at the Royal Society of Biology Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) are three vital priorities that all workplaces should strive to achieve for their workforce, and those working in the biosciences are no exception.
Men are still more likely to be promoted than women in academia
Dr Pat Goodwin CBiol FRSB, diversity champion for the RSB Council, discusses some of the findings from the ASSET 2016 report. When it comes to academia, are a higher proportion of men than women promoted to their current position? This is true according to the findings of the latest ASSET (Athena Surveys of Science Engineering … Continue reading
World penguin day and the march of the Adelie penguins
Today is World Penguin Day, an international celebration dedicated to the flightless birds that are almost synonymous with the stretching white plains of the Antarctic. The date of World Penguin Day – the 25th of April – is being suggested by some sources online as coinciding with the day some colonies of penguin species Pygoscelis … Continue reading
Insect invaders and problematic plants: the threats posed by invasive species
By Barney Slater AMRSB, BBSRC PhD student at University of Cambridge and policy intern at the Royal Society of Biology. March 27th – April 2nd was this year’s UK Non-Native Species Secretariat (UNNS) Invasive Species Week. During the week NNSS teamed up with Defra to spread awareness of what invasive species are, which pose a … Continue reading
Policy lunchbox: the challenges facing the industrial strategy
By Gabriele Butkute, science policy officer at the Royal Society of Biology and the Biochemical Society The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have released an open consultation on ‘Building our Industrial Strategy’ which is currently a hot topic among our Member Organisations and the whole of the bioscience community. As such, we … Continue reading
Talking science policy and Trump politics at this year’s Voice of the Future
By Greg Satchell, BSc (Hons) MRSC MRSB ACSFS, junior forensic scientist for Thames Valley Police and representative for the RSB at this year’s Voice of the Future Having only ever walked past Parliament on a number of occasions, never had I thought that I would be sitting in the Boothroyd Room, conversing with senior members of … Continue reading