Bishop Hill The pilgrim's progress
Jul 2, 2012 Walport Sir Mark Walport, who runs the Welcome Trust, has been appointed the new government chief scientific advisor. He takes over from Sir John Beddington, whose term of office comes to an end in December. There is an excellent article by Pallab Ghosh reviewing the implications of the appointment here.
Walport's appointment is the latest installment in a meteoric rise to prominence, having been knighted in 2009 and elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2011. The appointment is quite surprising, since he seems to be more of an administrator rather than a researcher. Ghosh's article might give you the impression that Walport's political acumen, and in particular the expectation that he might be able to protect the scientific civil service from spending cuts, is the main reason that he won out over more research-orientated candidates.
Prof Walport's first big test according to Bob Ward, who worked closely with a former chief scientist, Lord May, is to reverse the cutbacks in research spending.
"If the UK is to continue to be a world leader in research, Professor Walport has to make a very strong case to government and particularly the Treasury in time for the next spending review.
"We're all hoping that his experience at the Wellcome Trust will stand him in good stead."
That was a view echoed by James Wilsdon, professor of science and democracy at Sussex University.
"The next few years won't be easy for UK science. Another spending round looms. But in Walport, the community has a leader who can inspire enthusiasm, confidence and support," Prof Wilsdon told me.
I have suggested before that the GCSA's chief work is as a pilgrim - a publicly funded trade union official - rather than providing scientific advice. One could be forgiven for thinking that Lord May and Prof Wilsdon might agree with me.
Reader Comments (46)
I think we are at the point in science where a scientists quantitative rating is in currency units.
People who do good work in their field do not tend to become scientific advisers to government. Academics who end up in admin/political work usually are, let's say, best suited to make their contribution there.
Diplomatic enough?
So: more money for medicine and bio, less for physics, astronomy amd the like?
What about fictional sciences such as Climate Science?
Diplomatic enough?
Very well put.
People who do good work in their field do not tend to become scientific advisers to government. Academics who end up in admin/political work usually are, let's say, best suited to make their contribution there.
I would love to be a relative "failure" for the Wellcome Directors' salary. As far as I can make out it is around £400,000. That's the sort of failure I can only hope to aspire to.
The govt became rather fed up with Lord May and David King's public advice on how to do things. With Beddington they told him to keep a lid on public utterances (i.e. don't be like May and King and think you are a media star) and Beddington in the main kept to it. The same advice is given to Wallport. He's there to reorganise the mess Beddington left behind with his science advisor in every gov dept idea.
Well - what we all want to know is - where he stands on 'climate' issues - and will he really be a champion of 'evidence-based policy decisions'..?
Could be a first...
Wellbeing!! Fully finded Phd:
(spot the cardiff phsycology connestion)
PhD studentship in coastal ecosystem psychological services - University of York
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/communication/news-archive/2012/phd-studentship-coastal-ecosystem-psychological-services-university?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tyndall+%28Tyndall+Centre%3A+Latest+News%29
The effects of storminess on coastal ecosystem services and wellbeing
Supervisors: Dr Katherine Selby (University of York), Dr Lorraine Whitmarsh (Cardiff University) and Professor Colin Brown (University of York). CASE Partner, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
So what proportion of government research spending goes into "climate science" - like Adam Corner's valiant work on the psychological deficiencies of sceptics and Rupert Read (UEA)'s "climate philosophising" on the possibility of getting rid of democracy?
Is it remotely conceivable that the shortage of research funds in commercially productive or life-enhancing areas of science is somewhat connected to the vast sums wasted on politically mandated "climate science".
Will Sir Marks' planet-sized brain enable him to figure this blindingly obvious point out?
It's the "wellbeing" bit that tickles me Barry.
Sounds a bit sort of vague, subjective and meaningless - obviously therefore a perfect topic for further "climate science" expenditure.
What's the ROI on "science" research? By pooling tax money the state claims (erroneously in my view) that it can take a longer view on investment returns.
To put it another way.... If you could direct the tax money extorted from you, would you send it to a British university?
More Tyndall/Cardiff (closed now for entry)
We are currently seeking an environmental psychologist or human geographer with experience in quantitative survey or experimental methods for a 3 year studentship fully funded by Cardiff University’s President’s scheme. The topic is public perceptions of sea-level change in the Severn Estuary.
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/communication/news-archive/2012/cardiff-phd-studentship-perceptions-risks-sea-level-change-severn
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(defund the lot i say)
public perception of sea level change, the tide goes in and out, and sea level rises 2mm a year.
Mooloo
You can not hope to aspire... as soon as you start hoping, you are already aspiring ^.^
The question about Sir Mark is:
Does he do his own thinking or does he let the government "experts" do his thinking for him?
I'll get my coat ...
Learned to sail there - second highest tidal range on the planet at around 50ft.
While you're being hurtled up & down the channel at 8 knots on a 50ft tide - your "perception" of the odd 2mm change might be somewhat dimmed.
This is just blatant "grant farming" by dimwits desperately trying to leech a living off the backs of taxpayers.
I wonder if their research funding includes a nice little boat for jollies on the water.
While my instant reaction is total agreement with Barry wrt his suggestion to remove funding from psuedo science e.g. the "public perceptions of sea-level rise in the Severn Estuary", this recent comment by Jonathan Jones in Unthreaded suggests that the research could throw up some interesting conclusions wrt the mental health of a certain Green party activist:
Phillip Bratby assures Jonathan (who knows Ricky from wind farm public inquires) that this is unlikely to be a misquote!
The reason they don't tend to do good work in their field is that they spend all their time at work manouvering and politicking for promotion and overpaid posts like this.
Re: Jul 2, 2012 at 1:41 PM Mike Jackson
That's clever!
JF
Data Debate: Is transparency bad for science?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTlCRw5nLe8
Mark Walport in the above.. and George Monbiot (being very good about transparency)
Mark not that impressive (transparency for what purpose ? )
I had assumed the Wellcome trust was a genuine charity not just a government funded sock puppet. On the other hand the the Royal Society definitely is a 77% funded sock puppet. In which case Walport's move looks like a departmental promotion within the government's advertising of scare stories department.
My other half's reaction to me quoting the "public perception of sea level rise" nonsense to him was
"Ah, that must be in order to discover whether their propaganda is working".
Given that the BBC is a bastion of unbiased reporting*, why is a non-scientific alarmist activist like Bob Ward being quoted in this article?
* Imagine for a moment we are living in a parallel universe where the BBC respects and adheres to it's charter.
Barry & Foxgoose--
There is nothing amusing about the international Wellbeing push. It tracks to Richard Layard's Happiness research here in the UK and that recent World Happiness Report put out by the UN.
I tracked it to Australia where Student Wellbeing is to become a primary focus of the schools. The US advisors track back to CASEL--the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning that maintains training feelings can physically alter the brain.
Wellbeing also ties into the International Positive Social Science movement that sees this emphasis as a stealth approach to political and social change.
I wrote this piece this morning on the use of Preachments like positive psychology to change future voters emotionally and unconsciously and mandate a communitarian outlook. The implications of the global wellbeing agenda through education are next on my list to write up.
http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/does-common-core-target-hearts-and-minds-to-sway-future-voters/
The targeting of the normative/affective will work just as well if not better in parliamentary systems with coalition governments.
So how long before Sir John becomes Lord Beddington ?
Some figures about the Wellcome Trust from their annual report up to Sept 2011
Income: £254,389,387 (yes that is 254 million)
Spend: £728,144,624
Assets: £15.093 billion
The word "climate" appears once in the 81 page report which I see as a good sign especially for an organisation that provided £392.6 million in science funding.
PS Also how long before plain Jane becomes Barroness Pilgrim
@Jul 2, 2012 at 1:22 PM | Barry Woods
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/communication/news-archive/2012/cardiff-phd-studentship-perceptions-risks-sea-level-change-severn
//
The people of the South West are pretty level-headed. I'd think that the public perception is that they are not in the slightest bit concerned. More concerning would be the egregious pissing away of taxpayers money.
Why do I think of the Mekon whenever Bob Ward pops up?
All I know of Walport is that he has been strongly in favour of having "open access" to the results of research projects, and has put the muscle of the Wellcome Trust behind this objective. His latest move has been to decide that the Trust will withhold the final payment of of Trust funding of research unless the results of the research are made freely available, rather than being hidden behind paywalls.
The Trust itself has been pioneering the concept of open access to the results of projects it exclusively funds, I believe.
I do not know if his ideas on open access include proper access to the underlying data and the methodology, but so far he sounds like a good egg ?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/28/wellcome-trust-scientists-open-access?newsfeed=true
Jul 2, 2012 at 1:22 PM | Barry Woods
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/communication/news-archive/2012/phd-studentship-coastal-ecosystem-psychological-services-university?
They forgot to take this down on 2 April.
Social research on ecosystem services has tended to be dominated by economic approaches (e.g., Bateman et al., 2011). There has been little attempt to integrate psychological perspectives into ecosystem services research despite considerable evidence of the cognitive, emotional and broader health benefits of spending time in, or even simply viewing, natural environments (e.g., Hartig et al., 1991). Coastal dune and saltmarsh environments reflect key characteristics (e.g., natural, complex, presence of water) known to be aesthetically appealing and restorative (e.g., Kaplan, 1995). Climate-related risk, such as increased storminess, to these environments and to the psychological and other benefits they afford must therefore be assessed and managed.
Best April Fool's joke I've seen.
Sir Mark Walport needs to stamp out this sort of grant farming for utterly pointless studies (based on a false premise). The taxpayer has other things to fund such as the ridiculous foreign aid budget.
Er... Professor Wilsdon "Professor of Science and Democracy"? I know it is not relevant to this discussion, but can someone tell me how these subjects are lumped together? Something to do with cuts in education budgets is it?
Walport's "forthright" style is admired by former Socialist Workers Party member Prof Sir Paul Nurse so that should be alright. He is also a "marmite figure" so that's ok if you like marmite. On the other hand Walport does favour bright blue trouser braces which indicate a) a fatty b) a raconteur c) a professional bore d) a complete arsehole. The jury is out on this one.
The good news is that Bedington is on the way out.
Palab Ghosh's report suggests that Walport has had some run-ins with the Royal Society - and the RS has been a main driver of climate catastrophe rubbish.
I would not be at all surprised if Walport questioned the volume of funding going into "climate science". Nor if he distanced himself from the Bedington/May/Nurse line.
The Wellcome Trust funds mostly medical research. And most of that research is underpinned by rigorous use of statistics and statistical methods. (One of my daughters had to work with a Professor of Statistics in order to get approval for her paper on research into a novel MRI diagnostic technique. I bet my doctor daughter knows more about statistics and Excel than Prof Jones !)
Maybe His Grace could send Walport a copy of The Hockey Stick with a request that the statistical rigour required in medical research should also be applied to climate "research".
Rhoda Clapp,
"People who do good work in their field do not tend to become scientific advisers to government. Academics who end up in admin/political work usually are, let's say, best suited to make their contribution there.
Diplomatic enough?"
Very diplomatic. But ...
You have to agree that the history shows some good Generals can go on to become good politicians while some good politicians make great Generals.
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
Very good - no comment …. Except
John Anderson ‘and the RS has been the main driver of climate catastrophe rubbish’.
Well, if so, the Government has funded the effort, and are responsible. Ir may serve this blog’s purposes if the run-ins you report he has had with the RS concern or come to concern catastrophic climate change, but one has to hope that he can manage to advise the Whitehall bureaucracy that it is unsupportable.
You know:
Mandarin: You cannot presume to advise me on this.
Sir M: Oh No! But why do you not ….
Question : Is this Knight of the Realm a Climate Realist or a Climate Clown like the one we have down here in New Zealand advising our Government.
@ esquirerobin: Wonderful stuff on your blog, Robin! Thank you.
p.s. Is this a typo, or just different to the way I would write it? "I do not want to be left describing why we sunk." Sank?
Esquire Robin
Finds subterranean worm.
Fierce fire carotid.
============
sHx: "You have to agree that the history shows some good Generals can go on to become good politicians while some good politicians make great Generals."
History has usually shown that the generals you start a war with, those who have climbed the slippery pole in peacetime, are not the ones you end the war with, the good practitioners in the field. People who are good at what they do should do what they are good at. There, worthy of the Sphinx
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mystery_Men#The_Sphinx
Rhoda Klapp
I haven't seen Mystery Men. Is it any good?
But from the sample I've seen, a reply worthy of Sphinx would go "the old aphorism that you need peace-loving generals in peace time and warlike generals in wartime is the new truism".
Or would that be too cerebral?
@ Pharos
"Why do I think of the Mekon whenever Bob Ward pops up?"
Time and place. I was about 8 at the time, but The Eagle was in a different league from the likes of Beano etc.
It seems I was in a minority at the time. Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.
Pharos
Maybe this is what you are thinking of?
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2011/2/3/bobs-strawman-at-cojo.html
BTW, am I the only one who thinks "Welcome Trust", as used in the heading for the post, is not exactly a spelling error?
Sigh! I meant the first sentence.
sHx
You need warlike Generals even more in peacetime otherwise you get the kind of daft defence cuts we are currently suffering.