20th January 2021 Geneva, Switzerland
I feel a bit sheepish about not doing a blog at the end of the last session. By the time we’d finished in October it really felt like the less said about the non-stop misery fest that was 2020 the better. I’ll put the fact that not a single person mentioned it down to collective […]
21st March 2016 Geneva, Switzerland
Sorry for last week’s silence. A bout of family flu and some absent colleagues kept me busier than usual but thankfully everyone’s fine again. The middle two weeks of the Council session have been typically frantic with everyone trying to work out the version of their resolutions to table which they hope will attract the […]
24th February 2014 Chicago, USA
I guest-blogged over on The Naked Scientists’ site this month on the AAAS meeting and the visit of David Willetts, UK Minister for Universities and Science. Read it here.
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16th December 2013 Washington DC, USA
In November, I was able to spend some time with Professor David Cope of Cambridge University – the former Director of the UK’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) – while he was at the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington. In his time at GAO, David has been working with the Chief […]
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16th December 2013 Washington DC, USA
Washington truly epitomises the holiday spirit. It’s my first holiday season here, and I’m seeing firsthand the spirit of giving across the city. Bell-ringers collecting for the homeless. Toy drives in offices all across town, including our own. Washingtonians’ generosity is making an impact from local neighbourhoods to the far side of the globe. This […]
12th November 2013 Houston, USA
I recently had the opportunity to join Sir Mark Walport, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, on his trip through Texas before he headed on to Canada. Our Science and Innovation teams coordinated his visit, which focused on the potential for building UK-North America links in energy and sharing best practices in policy and regulation. […]
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5th September 2013 Washington DC, USA
I had the fortune to spend summer on the beautiful shores of Lake Geneva representing the UK at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a 159 country organisation that governs international economic relations. It was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of DC during the summer – several weeks soaking up the fresh mountain […]
5th September 2013 San Francisco, USA
On 29 August, I had the privilege of attending a ceremony commemorating the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre (HC) and US Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) in the area of high performance computing (HPC). This MOU, signed by LLNL Director Parney Albright and […]
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4th September 2013 Washington DC, USA
Have you ever been watching an award show or an interview and seen an actor or actress speak out of character and… hold on a moment… they’re British? This most recently happened to me while watching the Emmy’s last year when I (unfortunately) hadn’t yet watched ‘Homeland’ and didn’t realise that Damian Lewis, who won […]
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4th September 2013 USA
I have less than one year before my next diplomatic posting (wherever that may be) but before I go, intend to write a monthly blog about the UK-Florida relationship. I’ll share some of the insights I’ve gained during my three and half years service here so far.