Cambridge University launches new Centre for Science and Policy

THE University of Cambridge has created the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP), dedicated to bringing together the best scientific thinking across all disciplines in order to inform public policy.


[Pictured: Dr David Cleevely FREng, who has been appointed the Founding Director of the CSaP.]

CSaP will build upon the strengths of the University to inform debate surrounding these issues by facilitating contact between policy makers and scientific experts. Cambridge has a constellation of recognised leaders in a range of disciplines which can be brought to bear on the widening range of policy issues where input from science and technology and the social sciences is imperative. It is also well placed to draw on expertise from around the world, and to engage in productive dialogue with governments, the private sector and international organisations.

The Centre will be a major resource for the UK, but international in its activities. In order to reach as many organisations as possible that inform policy, it will work with other academic institutions, think tanks, and the research elements embedded within Government, business and international organisations.

Dr David Cleevely FREng has been appointed the Founding Director of the CSaP. He brings expertise in engineering, economics, biotechnology businesses, networking organisations and government policy formation to this task. He will be a member of the Executive Committee of CSaP, whose other members include Sir Tom Blundell, Head of the School of Biological Sciences; Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Director of the Judge Business School; Lord Eatwell, Director of the Centre for Financial Analysis and Policy; Frank Kelly, Professor of the Mathematics of Systems; Professor Ian Leslie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research; and Sir David Wallace, Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences.

Dr Cleevely said: “In the coming decades, humanity faces unprecedented challenges and great opportunities. The world’s growing population, coupled with advancing technology, poses threats to the climate and biosphere that could be irreversibly damaging. Additionally, advances in bio- and nanotechnology offer immense prospects, but raise new ethical and security dilemmas. These new technologies and emerging issues will continue to transform and enrich our lives, but also pose a unique set of challenges for policy makers.

“I am very excited to be leading this initiative, which builds on real strengths at Cambridge. A key feature of the Centre will be a focus on communication, facilitating the most effective engagement between policy makers and leading scientists whose expertise spans the wide spectrum necessary for informed decisions.”

CSaP continues and extends the work undertaken by the Cambridge University Government Policy Programme (CUGPOP) which ran as a series of extremely successful seminars between 1998 and 2006 for senior policy makers.  

More details may be found on the CSaP website: http://csap.org.uk

The creation of the Centre has been made possible through the generosity of donors including the David Harding Foundation and the Isaac Newton Trust, and internal funding by the University of Cambridge itself.

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