About the project
The Science Council has commissioned TBR to undertake the next stage of research into the UK science workforce. The study was commissioned earlier in the year and the data analysis is now almost completed. This year we plan to produce a narrative review of the data looking at the findings in detail and identifying trends, aiming to make the report more accessible and relevant to various communities. We have also taken the opportunity to address some of the issues thrown up by the first study, including a review of what to include in the various sectors and sub-sectors of occupations and the economy and seeking to break down some of the larger groups such as teaching and health.
If you would like to refresh your recollection of the 2010 report it is available on our website at:
http://sciencecouncil.org/content/science-workforce
What you can do
The Science Council would like to bring together a Reference Group of individuals who would be willing to examine the workbooks and give us feedback. TBR (the agency undertaking the work) are a leading well-regarded consultancy for their statistical analysis but we do not have statisticians on the staff team and would welcome the expertise and input of others to ensure that we identify any issues in advance and that the report is credible.
The Reference Group members could be staff or members of professional bodies and we are seeking individuals with some experience and understanding of population or workforce based research of this kind. Most of the discussion will be conducted electronically so individuals will not need to be London based. Reference Group members would be asked to keep the data confidential at this stage but would be given access to the workbooks. There will be no commitment to attend meetings and in all there will be around 10 data workbooks to look at.
With regard to the specialist review sections we are seeking four or five committed individuals to form small working groups to help draft these narrative chapters. The Working Groups are likely to be in the following areas, subject to having enough interest and support from member bodies:
- Reviewing what occupations are in Primary and Secondary Science, and exploring the potential to sub-divide ‘Secondary Science’.
- Health workforce.
- Food and Farming – emerging issues including reviewing skills shortages and gaps.
- Careers – drawing out the STEM careers messages from the data.
- Diversity. Reviewing the data and comparison with 2010 to identify trends and issues for diversity in the science workforce.
- Non-graduate STEM careers – reviewing the data to understand key findings and trends for the non-graduate workforce in science, including regional distribution
We think that the Working Groups will probably meet just once (probably during September or early October) with the rest of the discussion undertaken electronically.
Anyone interested should contact the Nuclear Institute at admin@nuclearinst.com and your details to be passed on to the relevant person at teh Science Council.
