SEB Bulletin January 2006
New Chief Executive appointed
Dr Richard Dyer has accepted the post of Chief Executive of the Biosciences Federation from January 2006, to replace Dr Mike Withnall who retires at the end of the year.
Since its launch in late 2002, the Biosciences Federation has almost doubled the number of member organisations to 38. It aims to be a single authority within the life sciences that science and education decision-makers can consult for opinion and information. The Federation is particularly active in the areas of science policy, education, support for research using animals and European affairs.
Dr Dyer is currently Director and Chief Executive of the Babraham Research Institute in Cambridge. He is widely recognised as having done an excellent job for the Institute and will bring to the Biosciences Federation considerable enthusiasm as well as valuable experience of leading and managing a large organization.
Professor Sir Tom Blundell, President of the Biosciences Federation, said: “The biosciences are in a period of rapid and revolutionary discovery and growth, with many implications for Government and the public, as well as for bioscientists themselves. With his background of outstanding science and proven leadership, Richard Dyer is an impressive appointment as Chief Executive. He will ensure a strong future for the Biosciences Federation and make a major contribution to the health of bioscience in the UK”.
Dr Dyer said: “I am delighted to be joining the Biosciences Federation at this extraordinarily exciting time. Today, discoveries in the life sciences are rapid, and of interest to all sectors of society. I look forward to working with both the scientific and user communities to help communicate these exciting discoveries, and to gain support for maintaining a creative research environment in the UK”.
Science Communication Awards
Professor Clive Page and Dr Mark Lythgoe were selected as the winner and runner-up of this year's inaugural BSF Science Communication award active researchers in Higher Education Institutions. The Award attracted an outstanding list of nominees whose contributions to science communication were astonishingly broad, varied and imaginative.
Clive Page is Director of the Sackler Institute at King's College, London and has for a number of years appeared in media discussions relating to the use of animals in medical research. Mark Lythgoe was selected because of the remarkable range and creativity of his contributions to science communication which combine science and art. Mark is a biophysicist developing novel MRI imaging techniques at the Royal College of Surgeons Unit of Biophysics at UCL. His science communication work ranges from staging an experimental play at the Royal Festival Hall to lectures on the brain presented in IMAX cinemas throughout the UK, with a combined audience of 10, 000 adults and children, and TV work that has been shown throughout the world. The awards were presented by Mike Collis (Pfizer) at a meeting of BSF member organisations in London on Thursday 17 November 2005.
Recruitment and Retention Issues
The Biosciences Federation published three important reports in November. Building on Success tracked government science funding policy through a series of comprehensive spending reviews and assessed what has been the overall impact on the health of the biosciences. Science Policy Priorities 2005-2009 outlined what the Federation's member organisations consider to be the priorities for the new government. And Enthusing the Next Generation set out the views of a well-informed working group on changes to the biology curriculum at all levels, and to its delivery, that are required to stimulate the interest of young people. The reports can be accessed at: www.bsf.ac.uk or hard copies provided on request. The need to improve recruitment and retention was a common theme in all three reports and was top of the list of science policy priorities in the second report.