A Particle Physicist in Whitehall

Adventures on the Royal Society Policy Secondment SchemeThe Royal Society has started a Policy Secondment Scheme: placing research fellows in Governmental departments to foster communication between scientists and science policy-makers. Dr Lily Asquith is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow based at the University of Sussex, and is one of three participants on the pilot round for this scheme. Lily's secondment is in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working with the team focused on combatting Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT). Dr Emma Hennessey is the deputy Chief Scientific Adviser, and has taken Lily under her wing. Why would an experimental particle physicist want to go into Whitehall? Continue reading...