The pledge by the UK’s new science minister to adopt an “unrelenting focus” on science has prompted concern and confusion.
The alarm emerged after Chris McDonald told vice-chancellors at the Universities UK conference on 10 September that, as the science minister, he will be “making the case for science unrelentingly…There is a secretary of state for DCMS [the Department for Culture, Media and Sport], and she will do the same in the arts.”
Speaking to Times Higher Education, Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the remark “concerns me very deeply. It was very odd.” He noted that all of McDonald’s recent predecessors “have stressed that they represent ‘science’ in the broadest sense of the term: in other words, representing knowledge in all areas”.
As the minister for science in the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), McDonald has responsibility for the country’s entire research and development system, including social sciences and the arts and the humanities.
Some observers are wondering if McDonald, who was appointed to the role on 23 July, was unaware of the full extent of his portfolio. Hillman said: “I had hoped it was all a slip of the tongue, but it seemed premeditated and was repeated. I have spoken to various people who share my surprise.”
