https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.93.9

The Society hosted a stand at the Labour party conference in Brighton, alongside Understanding Animal Research. During the course of the conference we met with a number of MPs, including the now Shadow Secretary of State for Education Tristram Hunt and three other members of the Shadow ministerial team.

The message from Labour on science funding was that they would seek to put in place a 10 year settlement for the science budget. However, they wouldn’t commit to what level of funding would be offered or whether the funding would be inflation linked or a flat cash settlement. In the run-up to the next election and beyond, The Society will continue to push all parties for stable, increased funding.

With regards to in vivo research, the Labour party did not have a formal policy position in place. However, when questioned, the MPs we spoke to were of the opinion that a funded 3Rs strategy was more appropriate than the pledge the coalition government made for a reduction in overall numbers (which the government has now also realised).

House of Commons committee inquiry into women in science

The Society submitted a response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee inquiry in vivo into women in academic STEM careers. The submission highlighted the period between PhD completion and the first permanent academic post as a key point in which women are lost in the profession. We will be monitoring the inquiry and the resulting recommendations, and will report their findings in a future Physiology News edition.

Policy maker engagement

The Policy Committee will be launching a pilot policy maker engagement project in 2014, and we will be seeking members to enrol in the project, so please watch this space…

If you are interested in these or any other policy related issues please contact us via policy@physoc.org