SEB Bulletin January 2008 - In this issue
In this issue
Lighting the way
The 'European Research Area: New perspectives' Green paper1, which will be used by the European Commission to propose initiatives for 2008, states: “In a changing world characterised by the accelerating globalisation of research and technology and the emergence of new scientific and technological powers - notably China and India - the European Research Area is more than ever a cornerstone for a European knowledge society. Such a society is one where research, education, training and innovation are fully mobilised to fulfil the economic, social and environmental ambitions of the EU and the expectations of its citizens”. Those 4 words: research, education, training and innovation are all very pertinent to most members of the SEB, whether they are academics, postdoctoral researchers or postgraduate students. Policies and guidelines for funding are already filtering through whereby collaborative working practices are rewarded which include industry partners and scope for knowledge transfer opportunities. Universities are instituting a plethora of initiatives to add value to undergraduate courses and the postgraduate experience by offering additional skills training including enterprise and innovation. And underpinning all of this is research excellence and effective communication. All of this is key to the business of the SEB and we aim to support our membership as far as possible so that you can benefit from our specialised community.
In this issue we invite you to submit an abstract to our Annual Main Meeting next year to be held in Marseille (pages 14 - 16). With a varied programme of scientific sessions we hope to meet the needs of our diverse membership who attend so that you can discuss your research, generate new ideas and make productive connections. We encourage our postgraduates and postdoctorals to apply to our Young Scientist's session and everyone has the opportunity to learn more about effective outreach and career development in our Education Programme. If you are keen to gain more in-depth skills training in aspects of enterprise, forging effective collaborations and partnerships with other researchers and industry or just general career development and management then our Satellite Meeting, Bioscience Futures (page 8), to be held in Lancaster in April, aims to enhance your career prospects whether you are intending to stay in or leave academia.
Of course, the SEB isn't alone in looking at innovative ways to align itself with new technological developments and policies to support the Bioscience community, as mentioned by Ian Johnston in his President’s Letter (page 4). Other organisations are providing new ways to assist researchers in utilising the new technologies of the 21st century. If I had known when I was struggling away on my electric typewriter in the Journal of Experimental Botany office at the end of the 1980's that within a decade and a half new technology would have moved publishing methods far beyond my imagination I wouldn't have been so excited about the arrival of my Olivetti 286 computer (almost instantly destined to become a museum piece). The recently established Research Information Network (RIN) is working with researchers, librarians, funders and publishers to offer advice and promote innovation to meet the communication needs of UK researchers (page 9). With a minefield of communication devices and networks springing up every week (it seems) they will be a welcome guide for all those negotiating this path. This might include those working with the SEB's three plant journals, featured on pages 10 - 11, although from the future highlights and achievements reported they are faring well and embracing these challenges.
Social networks, podcasts, blogs and Facebook are, I must admit, unfamiliar to me as I continue to use email and old-fashioned face-to-face real life communication as far as possible in my work and personal life. However, I know it's only a matter of time before events start to overtake me and I have to play catch-up so the article by Matt Brown, editor of Nature Network is a good wake-up call (page 6). They have set up a virtual environment whereby researchers can contact each other to discuss specific aspects of their work, protocols, etc. With more than 1000 scientists joining per month its looks like it's the place to be! And still on the subject of Nature, by coincidence our featured career profile in this issue is one of the senior science editors of Nature Reviews Genetics (page 27). If you're excited by the prospect of a career in scientific publishing Tania Casci's revealing insight should give you a few good pointers with links to useful websites too.
More innovative thinking and implementation is reported by Juliet Jopson of the Gatsby Plants Teaching Resource initiative. They have developed their teaching resources for plant scientists so that, not only do they offer electronic images, video clips, practical protocols and research-led lectures for teaching purposes, they are now trialing the production of film clips (page 7). Our own Teaching & Learning series aims to offer an overview of research areas which teachers and lecturers can use to introduce new topics to their students. This issue's article is written by Emilie Combet (Glasgow University) who provides very digestible reading on the subject of dietary antioxidants (pages 18 - 19).
Finally, in writing this editorial I realise that members may consider this publication to be outdated in its mode of delivery - although we do post all the articles on the SEB website too. Do people still enjoy reading the hardcopy bulletin? Does it still serve its original purpose to offer some light reading in between experiments, grant-writing, lectures etc.? If you're still reading, drop a line and let me know your thoughts by email - maybe we could even set up some kind of forum for discussion?
Sarah Blackford
Editor
(1) http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/pdf/era_gp_final_en.pdf
