INFORMATION & UPDATES UPDATES & INFORMATION EVENTS 7 MARCH - 29 MAY


Census & Society: why everyone counts


Census & Society: why everyone counts is a new British Library exhibition that explores how the census has influenced and reflected our view of society. Each section of the exhibition (families and households, health, employment and migration) includes photographs, maps, public information broadcasts and cartoons, alongside insights from the census data itself which illustrate how life in Britain is changing, and the issues of most concern. For more information, visit www.bl.uk/census


People


PROFESSOR ALAN HUGHES Prime Minister David Cameron re-appointed members to the Council for Science and Technology (CST) on 16 December 2010. Professor Alan Hughes,


Director of the Centre for Business Research at Cambridge University, began his appointment on 1 January 2011. The CST is the UK Government’s top-level advisory body on science and technology policy; its remit is to advise the PM and the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales on strategic issues that cut across the responsibilities of individual government departments.


31 MARCH


Scottish third sector research conference


The conference, co-hosted by the ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, will bring together Scottish Government, local government, third sector and academic researchers, as well as policymakers and third-sector practitioners from across Scotland. In addition to providing a platform for researchers to showcase their work, the event will offer a forum for delegates to discuss demands, challenges, opportunities and a range of findings of relevance to public policy in Scotland. For more information, visit www.cgap.org.uk/news/64/61/ The-2nd-Scottish-Third-Sector-Research- Conference.html


8 APRIL


New technologies in transnational youth research


The ESRC’s seminar series on diasporic and transnational youth identities looks at the understanding of young people’s networks of social relationships, which operate locally and across geographical borders. The third seminar focuses on critical and methodological studies of the use of new technologies, performance and creative arts as well as participatory research methods in youth research. For more information, visit www.lsbu.ac.uk/families/diasporayouth/ seminar3.html


30 SOCIETY NOW SPRING 2011


PROFESSOR PATRICK STURGIS In January 2011, Professor Patrick Sturgis, Director of the National Centre for Research Methods, joined the Nuffield Council working


group on emerging biotechnologies. Emerging biotechnologies such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology have the potential to provide benefits for health, the environment and the economy, but they also raise concerns. Members are considering the common ethical issues raised by new and converging biotechnologies, both past and present, in particular the implications for policy, governance and public engagement.


PROFESSOR MALCOLM GRANT David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, has


reappointed Professor


Malcolm Grant to the ESRC Council. Professor Grant is a barrister, environmental lawyer, academic and public servant. He was Professor of Land Economy and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University before becoming President and Provost of UCL in 2003, and is a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Hong Kong University Grants Committee.


ROBERT ADAM Robert Adam won the UCL provost award for public engager of the year. Robert is studying for his PhD in sign language linguistics at UCL’s ESRC-funded


Deafness, Cognition and Learning Research Centre. His research focuses on sign language in the lives of deaf people, for example those bilingual in sign languages or working as interpreters in the deaf community. His work helps us understand how people learn sign language and is contributing towards the development of resources and materials for teaching and language assessment.


PROFESSOR PHIL LEVY We are sad to announce the death of Professor Phil Levy in Winchester on 23 January 2011. Professor Levy attended Leeds Modern School and


read psychology at Leeds University, graduating in 1955. In 1958, he married his wife, Gill, and took a PhD in psychology and education from Birmingham University; in his doctoral research he became an expert in the science of psychological-test construction and analysis.


Throughout the 1960s Professor Levy worked closely with the National Children’s Bureau, providing statistical advice to its director. He was professor of psychology at Lancaster University from 1972-94 and for many years was also editor of the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology.


In the 1980s he became a skilled policymaker within higher education. From 1979 to 1989 he was chair of three consecutive Social Science Research Council (now the ESRC) research committees, and in 1986 he co-chaired the psychology panel for the first Research Assessment Exercise. A meticulous statistician who always understood the limitations of that discipline, Professor Levy’s advice was often sought in academic and political circles alike.


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