Campaign for Science and Engineering
Encyclopedia
The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) is a non-profit organization
which promotes science and engineering in the UK. It focuses on arguing for more research funding, promoting a high-tech and knowledge-based economy, highlighting the need for top-quality science and maths education at all levels, and scrutinising the mechanisms by which government uses science and evidence.
. It called on the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher
to 'Save British Science'.
The organisation changed its name to the Campaign for Science and Engineering in 2005. Many of the original 1,500 subscribers still support CaSE, but the group began to attract organisations to give official support, including universities, funding bodies, learned and professional societies, charities, businesses and unions. CaSE now has over 100 official supporters.
, in Bloomsbury
, London. It receives its funding from its members. Current member organisations include: Astra Zeneca and GlaxoSmithKline
; the University of Oxford
and University of Cambridge
; and the Institute of Biology
, Institute of Physics
and Royal Society of Chemistry
.
CaSE has an Executive Committee who meet three times each year, to discuss issues that pertain to the health of science in Britain and to set the context in which CaSE's campaigning activities are carried out. Professor Hugh Griffiths FREng is the Chairman. It also has an Advisory Council of distinguished scientists, engineers, industrialists and parliamentarians who are concerned about the health of British science. This includes Nobel laureates: Professor Antony Hewish FRS; Professor Sir Aaron Klug FRS; Professor Sir Harold Kroto FRS; Professor Sir Paul Nurse PRS; and Professor Sir John E. Walker
FRS, amongst 23 other Fellows of the Royal Society
.
A record of issues with which CaSE is concerned and active is maintained on the CaSE blog.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
which promotes science and engineering in the UK. It focuses on arguing for more research funding, promoting a high-tech and knowledge-based economy, highlighting the need for top-quality science and maths education at all levels, and scrutinising the mechanisms by which government uses science and evidence.
History
The Campaign for Science and Engineering was founded as Save British Science (SBS) in January 1986. The organisation started out when 1,500 scientists banded together to pay for an advert in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. It called on the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
to 'Save British Science'.
The organisation changed its name to the Campaign for Science and Engineering in 2005. Many of the original 1,500 subscribers still support CaSE, but the group began to attract organisations to give official support, including universities, funding bodies, learned and professional societies, charities, businesses and unions. CaSE now has over 100 official supporters.
Structure
CaSE is based in Gordon SquareGordon Square
Gordon Square is in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London, England . It was developed by Thomas Cubitt in the 1820s, as one of a pair with Tavistock Square, which is a block away and has the same dimensions...
, in Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
, London. It receives its funding from its members. Current member organisations include: Astra Zeneca and GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
; the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
; and the Institute of Biology
Institute of Biology
The Institute of Biology was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societies...
, Institute of Physics
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
and Royal Society of Chemistry
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
.
CaSE has an Executive Committee who meet three times each year, to discuss issues that pertain to the health of science in Britain and to set the context in which CaSE's campaigning activities are carried out. Professor Hugh Griffiths FREng is the Chairman. It also has an Advisory Council of distinguished scientists, engineers, industrialists and parliamentarians who are concerned about the health of British science. This includes Nobel laureates: Professor Antony Hewish FRS; Professor Sir Aaron Klug FRS; Professor Sir Harold Kroto FRS; Professor Sir Paul Nurse PRS; and Professor Sir John E. Walker
John E. Walker
Professor Sir John Ernest Walker is an English chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1997. He is currently the director of the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge, and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College.He was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, the son of Thomas Ernest Walker, a...
FRS, amongst 23 other Fellows of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
Areas of focus
CaSE focuses its activity at the highest level - where issues affect everyone - including: spending cuts; migrant capping; education reforms; and tax and funding policies. In 2010, CaSE played a key role in the Science is Vital campaign, which lobbied against cuts to the UK science budget in the Comprehensive Spending Review of October that year. The science budget was frozen in the final review.A record of issues with which CaSE is concerned and active is maintained on the CaSE blog.
Further reading
- Nordling, L. (2005). "On the CaSE". The Guardian
- Khan, I. (2011). "Government science advice should rest on trust". New Scientist