1.  INTRODUCTION

  1.1  The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) was created in April 1994 with the following mission:

—  To promote and support high-quality basic, strategic and applied research and related postgraduate training in engineering and the physical sciences.

—  To advance knowledge of technology, and provide trained scientists and engineers to meet the needs of its user communities (industries, commerce, government, service sector), thereby enhancing the UK's industrial competitiveness, and the quality of life.

—  To provide advice, disseminate knowledge and promote public understanding of science, engineering and technology.

  The Council's budget (grant in aid) in 1997-98 was £386.3 million.

  1.2  EPSRC carries out its mission mainly by funding grants to staff in Higher Education Institutions to undertake research and by providing awards to undertake postgraduate training. It also funds major facilities required for this research. The Council directly employs some 295 staff to make and administer its programmes. Key posts are those of the eight Programme Managers responsible for the main subject areas of the Council's remit. These staff, and the Assistant Programme Managers responsible for sub-areas, are broadly aware of developments in their fields but are not themselves experts in those fields. Thus they rely heavily and transparently on a clear system of external advisors to undertake their work. This note sets out the nature of that advisory system and the ways in which EPSRC works with and advises the work of Government. The EPSRC does not have its own research institutes or directly employs working scientist and engineers.

2.  SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE

—  EPSRC does not directly employ researchers in science and engineering.

—  The Council seeks wide advice, channelled through two panels (one academic, TOP, and one industrial, UP), to draw up the "Landscape" of its programmes.

—  A transparent system of peer review based on formally nominated "Colleges" is used to advise on the selection of individual research projects.

—  The outputs of these processes and access to the network of advisors is available to Government Departments and Agencies.

—  A particularly close relationship with the Office of Science and Technology ensures that the Council's advice can be relayed throughout Government.

—  Concordats with major relevant Government Departments provide a framework for on-going liaison and advice; Programme Managers are involved in specific Departmental Programmes;

—  Involvement in the work of the Foresight Panels provides a further mechanism for advice to Government.

3.  EPSRC'S SYSTEM OF SCIENTIFIC ADVICE

  3.1  EPSRC's approach is to set out a "landscape" of its scientific priorities (a document which is published annually) and to "populate" this landscape with projects, proposed by university researchers, of the highest quality. Two kinds of scientific advice are involved in this process. Firstly, the advice needed (informed but generalist in nature) to set out the landscapes; secondly, specialist "peer" review to choose only the best projects.

  3.2  Two panels, the Technical Opportunities Panel (TOP) composed mainly of academics, and the User Panel (UP) comprising mainly industrialists and other "users", advise Council annually on the balance of its programmers, in order to prepare that year's "landscape". There are many inputs to this process but they include "business plans" drawn up the programme managers, in consultation with external advisers or learned societies where appropriate. Another input is a detailed evaluation, by appointed expert panels, of previous work in the field. Full account is also taken of, for example, priorities emerging from the Government's Foresight Panels.

  3.3  To rank individual research proposals, a very open peer review process has been instituted. "Colleges" of reviewers (academics, industry and public service) have been formally nominated by their relevant communities and these individuals then act as referees on research proposals and join panels to discuss and rank proposals, within the broad priorities set by the "landscape". The system is a transparent one and ensures the Council receives the highest quality, unbiased, expert scientific advice. College membership is published.

  3.4  The system EPSRC uses to obtain the advice it needs has been sketched out in some detail, not just to indicate the nature of EPSRC as an organisation and to elaborate some of the means by which good advice can be obtained, but also to indicate that this extensive network of interactions with the academic, industrial and other user sectors provides a valuable route both to individual experts and to "aggregate" advice through EPSRC officers. Other arms of Government can, and of course frequently do, seek advice directly from the same community of experts but the EPSRC stands ready to provide a conduit where that is needed.

4.  RELATIONSHIP WITH GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

  4.1  The EPSRC's parent body is the Office of Science and Technology, within the Department of Trade and Industry. EPSRC, of course, gives (and receives) frequent advice on scientific and other policy issues through, for example, its Chief Executive's regular meetings with the Director-General of Research Councils, with the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser and through working documents such as the Business Plan and the Corporate Plan. Indeed the working relationship is so regular and essential, and the responsibilities of OST vis-a"-vis other Government Departments so extensive, that it is easy to underestimate this route as a source of scientific advice.

  4.2  In the note prepared by the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser in March 1997 ("The use of Scientific Advice in Policy Making"), Sir Robert May drew attention to "discussions with those in the Research Councils . . . " as a source of scientific advice for Government Departments and added that "these are likely to be most fruitful when held against the basis of long-standing relationships developed with Departments". EPSRC has drawn up a number of "concordats" with relevant Government Departments and Agencies to establish just such a series of long-standing relationships. The desirability of such concordats was also highlighted in the 1993 White Paper "Realising Our Potential". They offer an opportunity to compare programmes and priorities and offer advice and are subject to regular review. Major EPSRC Concordats are currently in place with:

—  Department of Trade and Industry.

—  Ministry of Defence (including the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency).

—  Department of Health.

—  Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Departments of Transport and the Environment).

—  Environment Agency.

  Valuable working relationships have been established as a result. EPSRC Programme Managers are also frequently, and directly, involved in particular Department initiatives.

  4.3  Another important working relationship is with the Government's Foresight exercise and with the work of the Foresight Panels. EPSRC staff attend relevant Foresight Panel meetings and offer advice where this is appropriate. The relationship is a two-way one in that the priorities established in the foresight exercise help in identifying the Council's overall "Landscape" (and vice versa) and rebuild and extend the networks of expert advice.

5.  CONCLUSION

  5.1  This note summarises some of the ways in which the EPSRC obtains the different kinds of scientific advice it needs, makes that advice available either in aggregate form or as a gateway into substantial networks of expertise and interacts with the Government Departments using the same networks directly or indirectly. The importance of such networks should not be underestimated.

June 1998