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The Special Issue 2017 is dedicated to the tensions between science, technology, policy and inequality. Inside we have articles by four wonderful authors covering gender, income inequality, solar panels, universal basic income, network technologies and much more. Look no further for a glimpse into the ongoing negotiation between society and science.  

The Special Issue contains:

Women and Solar Home Systems in Rural Bihar, India by Shivi Chandna
A Look at the Attrition of Women in STEM by Sumana Sharma
Book Review: Utopia for Realists by Karen Stroobants
Income Inequality and the Internet of Things by Nicolás Valenzuela-Levi

With Editor’s Note by Victoria Plutshack

Read full issue ↵

Bees

“Bees and other wild pollinators are fascinating, beautiful, and vital to our food production. They have pollinated our crops for millennia; now it’s time for us to return the favour.” – Dave Goulson, DEFRA

by Erin Cullen

Pollination is the process of pollen being transferred to the female reproductive organs of a plant and fertilisation taking place. Pollinators (which include honeybees) are vital to the process of pollination in flowering plants. Therefore pollinators provide vital ecosystem services which include food production as well as being important for biodiversity and conservation. With the need for food production to increase, now is an important time for pollinator security. However, their numbers are in decline. This piece will consider the legislation in place to protect pollinators both at a UK and international level, and examine the evidence collected by scientists to determine its efficacy. Although government commitment to biodiversity is strong in the UK, patchy legislation means that this commitment may not translate into protection for pollinators.

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Brains

Most diseases have sudden well-defined symptoms, but isn’t forgetfulness just a part of ageing? How do you know when you should be concerned? 

by Philip Lindstedt

With the increasing life expectancy of the global population age-associated diseases stand to become the greatest plague of the 21st century. Indeed, in the U.K. dementia has recently overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death. While not through a lack of effort, the development of effective therapies for dementias, especially Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent form, has been woefully unsuccessful. Policy makers around the globe have settled on a deadline of 2025 for a single effective therapy against Alzheimer’s in order to mitigate the potentially immense cost of the care burden. Although some candidates appear promising, recent high-profile failures showcase the difficult path towards 2025, casting doubt on the possibility for researchers to meet their deadline in the current policy paradigm.

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Shivi field

When researchers asked questions about life before and after access to solar home systems, they were struck by the fact that none of the answers centered on the women’s own needs in their life.

by Shivi Chandna

In rural India, women in poor households spend a large part of their day performing basic tasks such as collecting fuel wood or kerosene, which keeps them away from employment or education opportunities and makes their lives more difficult. Access to electricity is therefore increasingly regarded as a means to improve their status in society. Although a large number of small-scale and community-based off-grid renewable energy projects are in place to provide access to electricity with a women-centric approach, research on the benefits to women has been largely anecdotal. A review of the evidence for the impact of rural electrification on women’s lives concluded that electricity access has a positive effect on women’s practical needs by reducing drudgery and providing better health, time-savings and income generation.

Read full article ↵

Register here.

For the past six months, three teams of PhDs and post-docs from the University of Cambridge have collaborated with the Cambridgeshire County Council to provide advice on specific policy issues with direct relevance to the decision-making within the respective policy areas:

  1. “What are the next generation of models to transform organisations, and how could they benefit Cambridgeshire County Council?”
  2. “Why is Cambridgeshire’s educational achievement gap so bad, and what can be done about it?”
  3. “What actions would have most impact in reducing deprivation inequalities in Cambridgeshire?”

A University member of each team will give a short overview of the project they worked on, focusing on the process from first interactions with the Council to delivering a final advice. The University – Council collaboration will further be discussed in a round-table including the participants, as well as several members of the Cambridgeshire County Council. Enough time will be foreseen for questions, potentially by those interested to participate in this or similar initiatives in the future.

Participants
Simon Davies (The Structures Group – Department of Engineering) / Nidhi Chaudhary (Department of Land Economy)
Victoria Plutshack (Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance)
Erin Hawkins (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit)

Members of the Council

Amanda Askham (Head of Transformation)
Amanda has initiated an ambitious programme of transformation at Cambridgeshire County Council which seeks to revolutionise the way in which it operates – both internally and with external partners. Amanda has invested a significant amount of time in this initiative already, and will explain how nurturing relationships such as this play a crucial part in the organisation’s transformation agenda moving forward.

Councillor Peter Reeve MBE
Cllr Reeve has been heavily involved with the team looking at next generation models to transform organisations. As the Vice-chair of the County Council’s Highways and Community Infrastructure Committee, he commissioned the team to use their expertise to offer some fresh insight into a multi-faceted and complex problem.

Councillor Ian Manning
Cllr Manning established this relationship with CUSPE and has facilitated this pilot scheme which seeks to ensure that the Council are maximising the benefits of being based in Cambridge. Crucially, he has provided oversight for the project, as well as a coordinating link between Officers, Councillors and participants.

Image Credit: Cimexus, 2005