FST BLOG
We welcome blogs on issues across Science, Technology, Research and Innovation, and on the activities of the Foundation. To publish a blog on this site, please email Gavin Costigan (gavin.costigan@foundation.org.uk).
Note: The Foundation for Science and Technology is strictly neutral. Any views expressed in these blogs are those of the authors and not of the Foundation.
Selling Less of the Family Silver: the Key Challenge for Industrial Policy
- 26 November, 2024
- Business, Technology
- David Connell, Senior Research Associate, Centre for Business Research, Cambridge Judge Business School
The Industrial Strategy Green Paper, with its strong sectoral approach, represents a vital opportunity to revitalise the UK economy. But it has nothing to say about the key barrier to achieving this, the early trade sale of many of our most promising science and technology based companies to foreign corporations, and the truncation of further entrepreneurial growth in the UK.
Read MoreChanging how we think about ageing: Joining up medical sciences, social sciences and the humanities
- 23 October, 2024
- General
- Martina Zimmermann
Achieving attitudinal change to ageing would have far-reaching implications for how we retire, treat and care for older people, fund research and care, and understand intergenerational relations.
Read MoreBuilding bridges between schools and employers
- 24 September, 2024
- Education
- Christina Astin
This is the story of a smart 15-year-old girl who used to want to be a scientist. Let’s call her Amra. Her science lessons tend to be full of facts to memorise without time to understand and few opportunities to do hands-on experiments. She has never visited a workplace and the engineer who visited the school two years ago switched her off because he pitched his talk too high. What can be done to build bridges between the school and employers to help unlock the potential of students like Amra and plug the skills gap?
Read MoreA voice from the Government
- 11 September, 2024
- General
- Charlotte Raynsford, Communication Officer at The Foundation for Science and Technology
As an organisation whose mission it is to bring science and technology together with policy, in a neutral space, it is key to have a Government spokesperson on board every now and then. In this blog, we have handpicked several evening discussions where a Government Chief Scientific Adviser has joined our panel to help us unpick some topical issues of the time.
Read MoreA call for action and a roadmap for the new UK government to support the digital commons
- 10 July, 2024
- Prof Angela Daly, Law & Technology, University of Dundee, UK, Mr Gary Leeming, Director, Liverpool City Region Civic Data Cooperative, UK, Dr Riccardo Nanni, Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Digital Commons Lab, Trento, Italy, & Prof Mathieu O’Neil, Communication, University of Canberra, Australia
The new Labour UK government can strengthen the country’s digital sovereignty and deliver cost-effective and ethical solutions to the public sector by supporting open source software and digital commons. In this blog, the authors (on behalf of the Digital Commons Policy Council) set out a possible roadmap to supporting digital commons.
Read MoreResearch Integrity: a current view from Wellcome
- 8 July, 2024
- Anne Taylor, Associate Director, Funding Operations and Governance, The Wellcome Trust
What is research integrity, why should we care about it, and what is the UK doing in this area - just a few of the issues explored by Anne Taylor in this blog.
Read MoreDefining and teaching AI literacy in education
- 17 June, 2024
- Education, Technology
- Jonathan Lloyd
Exploring definitions, soft power, and the importance of AI literacy for teachers.
Read MoreSecuring the future: Navigating the role and challenges of Critical Minerals in Advanced Technologies
- 17 May, 2024
- Business, Environment, General, Technology
- Magda Wolna
Critical minerals are fundamental to the development and implementation of modern technologies that are crucial to our sustainable future. These minerals are an integral part of sectors ranging from renewable energy to electronics and defence, and as such constitute the cornerstone of economic and environmental progress. This in-depth analysis examines the critical role of key minerals, the challenges affecting their supply, and explores innovations to secure their future.
Read MoreGraphene Presents a Second Chance for British Semiconductors
- 19 April, 2024
- Business, Technology
- Professor Sir Colin Humphreys CBE FRS FREng FIMMM FInstP
This year, we in the UK are celebrating a very important anniversary. In 2004, two scientists from the University of Manchester used a roll of sticky tape to make an amazing discovery. They isolated small flakes of a single layer of graphite, called graphene, which became known as the ‘wonder material.’ It is the best conductor of electricity in the world. This blog looks at how Paragraf has worked from lab-to-fab, incorporating wafer-scale monolayer graphene into the semiconductor manufacturing process.
Read MoreFuture skills in Northern Ireland
- 15 April, 2024
- Business, Education, Technology
- Sarah Jones, Futures, Research & Development Unit, Matrix NI
A new landmark report has been published in Northern Ireland by influential advisory panel Matrix NI. In this blog, Sarah Jones unpicks this comprehensive report and discusses how it will be a combination of the core conclusions such as technological, social-emotional and digital skills that will shape the future.
Read More