Science Media Centre

The Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ) invited the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Professor Sir Peter Gluckman to speak at Te Papa last week.  His lecture was entitled: “Communicating and using evidence in policy formation: the use and misuse of science”.  A copy of the speech is now available here. An excerpt: Despite [...]

Callaghan Innovation, the new “high-tech HQ” aiming to bolster the economic impact of the government’s science and research investment, officially launched today at a breakfast event in Auckland.  The new Crown Agency will aim to “help get New Zealand’s most innovative ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace more quickly,” according to background on the Ministry [...]

A new ministry, announced today, will absorb the functions of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Department of Labour, the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Department of Building and Housing. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was officially announced by Prime Minister John Key at speech for the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, [...]

New Zealand academics have reviewed the governments stance on climate change and decried the lack of action in developing solid policies to address key climate issues. In an article published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, researchers from Otago and Victoria Universities reviewed websites and media releases, evaluating the governments last three year’s policy and [...]

Media Commentator Russell Brown has provided his summary and analysis of the SMC’s Election 2011 science policy Q&A on his Hard News blog on the Public Address network – where a number of readers have also commented on the latest science policy from political parties. An excerpt (read full post and further comments here): On [...]

The Science Media Centre put questions on key science-related issues to the political parties ahead of the General Election scheduled to be held on November 26.  Please click on the links below to find the answers from responding political parties (or download as a PDF): Science priorities  |  Crown Research Institutes  |  Science and education  [...]

The much anticipated ‘Powering Innovation’ report, released this week, sets out a number of recommendations to improve New Zealand’s high-value manufacturing sector. The report – and the governments support of it – has been the cause of much excitement in the business community. Among the reports recommendations, the most notable was the call to restructure [...]

Writing for the New York Times, Cornelia Dean looks at a new US initiative aiming to get scientists out of the lab and into politics. An excerpt (read in full here): Groups Call for Scientists to Engage the Body Politic When asked to name a scientist, Americans are stumped. In one recent survey, the top [...]

I’m at the World Conference of Science Journalists in Doha, Qatar where scientists, journalists and science press officers from around the world have been gathering to discuss the future of science journalism. I’ll be writing up posts over the next few days on the more interesting sessions I’ve been to (of those, there are many) [...]

Writing his final column for the  Dominion Post, Colin James examines some recent and upcoming situations that highlight a potential shift in government away from “kick-and-punch personality politics” and towards policy with a more scientific basis. An excerpt (read in full here): Science or old politics: a test for John Key On Wednesday, two reports [...]