Sir Paul Nurse appears to have decided that he hasn't been nearly political enough yet. Something must be done!
Nurse wants the society to have a stronger voice on the big policy questions of the day. "The Royal Society has a responsibility to provide advice on difficult issues, even if they are contentious," he says.
He hopes to boost the society's role in government decision-making by fostering greater involvement of its roughly 1,500 fellows and foreign members in preparing reports, potentially with the help of more policy staff. Nurse also wants to expand the number of authoritative and influential reports on key issues, such as nuclear power, climate change and the definition of life.
Interestingly, he also wants to extend the terms of officeholders. I wonder why? In my experience, this kind of step is rarely done for good reasons. I think I'm right in saying the officeholders currently have 5-year terms (certainly the president does). Why would they need more?
Bishop Hill
James Wilsdon, who heads (still, I think - he's leaving at some point) the Royal Society policy unit, tweets that the changes are as follows:
Council currently serve 1 or 2 yrs (President/VPs 5). Change would move Council to 3 yrs (like many charity trustees)