ForeSight

Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs

Since the June e-sight, the Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs project has decided on the 15 subjects for the state-of-the-art science reviews which it is commissioning. A full list will be published on the web site soon. They cover scientific, social, economic and cultural aspects of the use of psychoactive substances (substances that have an effect on the brain including leisure drugs, drugs to treat mental illness and cognitive enhancers) and also addiction. The authors will be looking at both positive and negative aspects of future use, on a 20-year timescale.

The authors will present their preliminary thoughts in a workshop next month, which will assist the project team's development work on the project.

The reviews will also feed into the futures workshops which the project will hold in early 2005. The workshops will engage a wide range of participants in thinking about the use of psychoactive substances and how societies can manage them in the future.

The following projects have all reported and here is an update on the work which is being taken forward:

Exploiting the Electromagnetic Spectrum

The projected reported in April.
The Institute of Physics (IoP) and Library House held a conference on 16 September to foster connections between the investment community and the EEMS science and technology communities. The event was attended by over 100 representatives of the investment community, and was introduced by Lord Sainsbury; key speakers were from both the scientific and business communities, with the key objective being to develop the investment and innovation opportunities opened up by the project.

The project's findings and actions will be communicated to the wider business community through sponsorship of the Opticks 2004 conference that the IoP are holding on 9 December to mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Isaac Newton's seminal work on the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The event will be opened by Lord Sainsbury and will feature a high profile list of speakers.

Flood & Coastal Defence

One of the core objectives of the FCD project was that the analysis took into account the whole of the UK and, therefore, the full and active engagement of the Devolved Administrations was essential for its success. Their contributions to the project are reflected strongly in its outputs.
There is, for example, a 60 page 'Scotland Report' and all three DA's have made important contributions to the Action Plan which are now beginning to bear fruit.

A series of workshops and seminars promoting knowledge transfer and the dissemination of the project findings have been arranged on subjects as diverse as the quantitative modelling techniques to Northern Ireland, promoting the public awareness of flood risk in Scotland and communicating the results to regional flood practitioners in Wales.

Importantly, the FCD project has, now and hopefully in the future, helped encourage a dialogue and deeper understanding of the long-term future risks and challenges amongst the community of stakeholders within each of the DAs.