EGN Conference 2013 - ESRC Genomics Network: As one phase ends, another begins…

by Chris Berry, Genomics Forum Press and Communications Officer

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The final session of the 2013 EGN conference was appropriately dedicated to examining how engagement between the social and life sciences would continue beyond the Genomics Network.

In his introduction, the session chair – Graeme Nicol, Former ESRC Research Committee Member and Impact Champion – indicated how appropriate it had been that the conference had focused on the “return on ESRC’s investment” the Network had achieved during the last decade, demonstrating exactly how substantial this had been. With that investment now nearing its end, the closing session of the conference would allow the Directors of the four Network Centres to not only to look back on their work, but to also to highlight the future plans and trajectories for these.

The Genomics Forum was first to contribute, with former Deputy Director, Dr Steve Sturdy, speaking in place of Forum Director, Professor Steve Yearley, who unfortunately was unable to attend the conference due to illness.

Steve commended the ESRC for, 10 years ago, having the vision to identify the important transformations that developments in the life sciences were beginning to have upon society. The ESRC responded accordingly by funding the three research Centres and the Genomics Forum to investigate and engage with these societal impacts, under the umbrella of the Genomics Network.

Elaborating on the work of the Genomics Forum, Dr Sturdy indicated that the ESRC was visionary in establishing this not to undertake research, but to provide an interface between the issues being researched by the other three Centres and key stakeholder audiences, including scientists, policymakers and the public.

Steve concluded by indicating that even though there would no longer be a role for the Genomics Forum beyond the end of the Genomics Network, an element of “Forum-ness” has been inculcated into the remaining Centres and more widely, and this would act as a fitting legacy to the Forum’s work and impact.

Professor David Castle spoke about the future direction of Innogen. He indicated that the partnership between the University of Edinburgh and the Open University would endure, and this had been cemented by the establishment of a memorandum of understanding. The Centre was undertaking a process of rebranding; reflect its ongoing movement away from its original focus on “genomics” to a more general interest in socioeconomic influences resulting from the life sciences and technical innovation.

David further indicated that the repositioning of Innogen to become the Innogen Institute would be phased, with the new Centre increasing its activity on the run up to the final cessation EGN-related research in March 2014. The work of the new Innogen Institute would build upon that of the old Centre, which had recognised publications in almost all areas of “the Web of Science”, and the Institute’s work would be supported by an ever increasing number of UK and international funders.

Professor Castle also noted that as well as undertaking research, the new Institute would focus upon providing tailor-made training, such as the new MSc in Management of Bio-economy Innovation and Governance.

Setting out the future direction of Cesagen, Professor Ruth Chadwick indicated that the formal collaboration between the Universities of Lancaster and Cardiff would cease in June 2013. However, a number of pre-existing links and collaborations will continue, resulting in tangible outputs such as the journal New Genetics and Society.

Cesagen will continue as a Cardiff-based centre for social science research, but it would transform itself to become the Centre for Ethical and Social Aspects of Genomics and Epigenetics (CESAGENE). Ruth stated that research activity would be located at the Cardiff School of Social Sciences, but would also feature internal collaborations with other schools at Cardiff University. Cesagene’s research would focus on key themes that include: personalised medicine; epigenetics; ageing; and food.

Egenis Director, Professor John Dupré, started by identifying that his Centre had a different background to the others within the Network, resulting in some distinctive features in the work Egenis undertakes. Specifically, Egenis has brought together the fields of sociology, STS, the philosophy of science, and (increasingly) anthropology, which do not necessarily naturally complement each other. Its work has been wide-ranging during the last decade, covering subjects as diverse as polygenic disease, the “philosophy” of stem cells, and “big data”.

John set out that his Centre will also continue beyond the end of the Network, with Egenis being the title that represents the Exeter Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences. The Centre would continue to focus on research into areas such as: genetics and identity; health technology and its impact on society (and in particular, the role of diagnosis); autism, dyslexia and ADHD; and the role of data within research.

Professor Dupré will continue as Director of Egenis. In addition to this role, he will lead a project relating to the ontology of contemporary biology.

With the Centre Directors having set out their visions of the future for their respective institutions, the ESRC Chief Executive – Professor Paul Boyle – concluded the conference. He stated that the ESRC had made a very wise choice when it agreed to fund the Genomics Network a decade ago. The Network exemplifies the historic and future requirement for research into the societal impact of developments in the life sciences, and it will still be a number of years until it is known exactly how successful the ESRC’s investment has been. In many ways, “This is not the end…” Professor Boyle stated. Although the ESRC may not now fund the Network directly, it will remain very supportive of the sort of social science research Network Centres have, and will continue, to undertake.

EGN Conference 2013 – Plenary Four: The “people legacy” of the Genomics Network

by Christine Knight, Genomics Forum Senior Policy Research Fellow

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People power

The ‘people legacy’ session at the EGN Conference came at an interesting time for me personally. I’m about to be made unemployed, and to go along to a session celebrating the capacity-building function of the network – its ability to launch its graduates and postdocs on successful careers – brings mixed feelings. The rather significant unsaid at this week’s conference is that the end of a major research council investment, such as the Genomics Forum and the ESRC funding for the three EGN centres, brings at least the potential for large-scale unemployment. 

I can’t speak for the other centres in the Genomics Network. But at the Forum, although the threat of mass unemployment has receded, several staff (myself included) still don’t know where we’ll end up next. That’s not quite true – I know I’ve got a well-deserved and well-planned summer break first of all. But come the autumn, I may or may not have my dream fellowship funded elsewhere at the University of Edinburgh. And if I don’t, who knows?

Planning a career break is not something I’ve done lightly, and I certainly wouldn’t change the decision. But there are moments when I do question my faith in my own employability, such as when I talk to other research fellows who’ve interviewed for the same fellowship schemes I’ve applied for, and then been turned down. Am I just demonstrating breathtaking levels of Gen-Y arrogance? Will I find myself locked out of academia for good, REFability or no REFability? 

At gutter-gazing moments like these, it’s always good to go to a conference session dedicated to the stellar success of former EGN PhD students and fellows. 89 PhD students completed during the lifespan of the EGN – a very considerable achievement, as chair Steve Sturdy pointed out, on top of the core research outputs of the centres. Of these, 4 spoke about their postgraduate and postdoctoral experiences in this session. 

Heather Walmsley studied at the Lancaster branch of Cesagen and is now Banting Fellow and Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the University of British Columbia. Hristina Petkova did a PhD in health economics at Egenis and now works at King’s College London. Farah Huzair studied agricultural biotech innovation at Innogen at the Open University, moved to Canada for a postdoc at Dalhousie, and has now returned to Innogen at the OU. Jonathan Suk, a former Genomics Forum Research Fellow, now works for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 

These are sparkling stories and they go some way towards justifying my belief that I should dry-clean my interview suit and polish my shoes, just in case. But there are also stories behind these stories that I’d like to hear. All 4 of the speakers in the session had made significant moves – across the pond, the North Sea, or the country. Were these upheavals wanted? Were they planned? Are even the most successful junior academics subject to circumstance, and the assumption that we can pack our bags and our lives at a moment’s notice and traipse across the world to follow a job? What becomes of friendships, relationships and family ties in these situations? 

There are certainly rich personal gains to be had out of academic adventure, and I’m not (just) talking about money and professional success. But are there other personal costs? What is gained and what is lost when Dr 20-Something packs up and ships out? These aren’t just gains and losses for the individual, but for the institution that has invested time and money in her or his training. 

One of the reasons I believe the EGN has been so successful – and we heard much about its success from Paul Boyle, Chief Executive of the ESRC, in his closing remarks later in the day – is the employment security it has offered to junior and senior staff alike. My own 5-year postdoctoral contract is extremely unusual, and my peers across the network have been similarly fortunate. This security has nurtured capacity and careers, allowing enormous scope for creativity in research, knowledge exchange and public engagement. 

At this uncertain moment, I can only express two hopes. First, I hope that this investment pays off, for me and others in similar positions across the network. Second, I hope the EGN’s ‘people legacy’ reminds the ESRC and other research funders of the value of investing in early-career security and stability. 

EGN Conference 2013 -- Opening provocation

by Emma Frow - Genomics Forum Associate Director and Lecturer in Science & Technology Studies, University of Edinburgh

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It’s a beautiful spring morning in Westminster, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. A fitting occasion to gather and celebrate a decade’s worth of achievements of the ESRC Genomics Network.

The conference opened with a tantalizing film clip (by filmmakers-in-residence Cameron Duguid & Lindsay Goodall) in which several EGN researchers grappled with the question ‘What is genomics?’…more on that later! Genomics Forum Deputy Director CatherineLyall then welcomed everyone to the meeting, and noted that poet-in-residence Samantha Walton will also be capturing this event in verse.

Adrian Alsop (Director of Research at the ESRC) provided some opening reflections regarding a decade of significant change for the ESRC, noting several significant shifts that have taken place in research policy and strategy over the lifetime of the EGN. Notably, ‘impact’ has become an increasingly dominant narrative for UK research, and the ESRC has been influenced by engagement with EGN researchers to define and support a definition of impact that embraces a wide variety of activities. A second big change that the ESRC is working with is the rise of an industrial strategy for science, one that strives to scale up industrial biotechnology with the promise of promoting health, wealth and an increasingly sustainable bioeconomy. Growing investments in ‘big data’ and the increasingly global character of social science research are two further changes influencing the context in which the ESRC operates. How to analyse and engage with these changes is an ongoing challenge and opportunity for social science research.

Adrian noted that EGN research has kept pace with several of these broader changes, and suggested that the interface between the life sciences and social sciences will continue to be a major theme for the first half of the 21^st century. Maintaining quality, impact, and independence in social science research will be critical.

We then moved on to a provocation by Roger Pielke entitled ‘Five Lessons of Science Advice.’ Roger highlighted the ongoing relevance of this topic by flagging up George Monbiot’s column in The Guardian yesterday, which focuses on the role of science advice around the current debates on bee health and pesticide use in Europe. 

Roger drew on over a decade of research, and specifically a series of interviews he has done with 7 US Presidential science advisers, to offer some key lessons about science advice, with some great cartoons to accompany these thoughts: 

Lesson #1: Science advisers are not superheroes. There is still a widespread expectation that ‘science speaks truth to power,’ and scientific evidence should be able to tell us what to do in tricky political situations. The reality is a bit more complicated, and the path between scientific knowledge, advice and decision-making in democracies is messier.

Lesson #2: ‘Science advice’ is a misnomer. Roger argued that we should be thinking instead in terms of ‘political advice.’

Lesson #3: Political advice from a science adviser can take multiple forms. Using a lively example about finding somewhere to eat dinner in London, Roger outlined 4 idealized categories of advice about science, which are expanded on at length in his book The Honest Broker. 

Lesson #4: Institutions matter. Institutional structures can end up having significant effects on decision-making practices, and we need to be sensitive to these broader factors. Roger gave us the example of the US President’s science adviser, who is formally positioned outside the President’s ‘inner circle’ of advisers (in part because science advisers can be called to testify in front of Congress, a level of exposure that precludes participation in highest-level decision-making). 

Lesson #5: “Politics is more difficult than physics” (a well-known quote from Einstein). Political thinking is very different from scientific thinking, and in practice science advisers need considerable experience in politics to do their jobs.

Roger concluded by saying that in the US and Europe, science enjoys enormous respect and authority, and that the ‘mythology of heroic science advice’ lives on – with a growing role for science advice currently being highlighted by institutions including the United Nations and the UK House of Lords.