An independent challenge

Posted by Andrew Wadge on February 19th 2007 in Science in Government

At its open meeting in London last week, the FSA Board agreed to the establishment of a new overarching General Advisory Committee on Science.

The Board sought assurances that the new committee should include social scientists, and that as well as providing an independent challenge to the Agency and Board, the new committee would also provide support to the scientists working in the Agency.

So why this new committee? As Chief Scientist it’s important that I put in place governance arrangements that make sure we’re getting the best advice, which means independent challenge of the highest order.

This includes the research we commission. The new committee will pick up the remaining roles and responsibilities of the Advisory Committee on Research (ACR), which the Board agreed to disband. The ACR’s done a sterling job since it was set up in 2002, but much of its initial work programme has now been completed.

The General Advisory Committee on Science will also take horizon scanning to a new level.

So who’ll be on the new committee? Its members will include the nine existing advisory committee Chairs, plus the Chair of the new Social Sciences Committee, which is due to start work later this year.

There’ll also be two lay members and it will be chaired by an eminent scientist plus some other independent scientists to ensure a good balance of expertise and experience. I’ll keep you posted on developments. And it would be good to hear your views.

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Thank you very much!

Posted by Jerri A. Husch, Ph.D. (not verified) on 20/02/2007 - 00:03

Thank you for the social science language - it is finally entering the discussion! I am very impressed with your new initiative that addresses key issues confronting food safety and quality, and I would like to offer my services as you go forward with this new social science initiative. As a visiting professor in the Dept of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, one of my projects is to develop a cross-disciplinary food policy forum at the university...it is, however, difficult as there is no mutally shared vocabulary.

My goal to create an interdisciplinary forum grew out of my evaluation role at WHO on Codex Alimentarius and the global food standard setting process as well as my evaluation of UN linkages around poverty reduction programs. These initiatives clearly showed me the necessity of an integrated social science perspective in the analysis of food safety and security issues around the world.

Good luck and I look forward to your response!

All my best,

Jerri