Editorial: Will big be better?
OPINION: The shakeup to the science sector with the proposed merger of four ag related crown research institutes (CRIs) into one conglomerate has drawn little public reaction.
Professor Patrick Cunningham is Professor of Animal Genetics at Trinity College, Dublin, and a leading world researcher on aspects of animal DNA. His five year term as chief science adviser to the Irish Government (2007-2012) ended on August 2012. During that time, he also led the Irish bid to host the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) in Dublin http://www.dublinscience2012.ie/ - the most significant science event on Europe's calendar. Some 4500 scientists attended the 5-day-conference last July.
He is the recipient of the Boyle Medal, Ireland's premier award in science, and following Europe's BSE crisis he co-established IdentiGEN, a company providing DNA traceability for meat enabling source of origin to be identified. This company has since become integrally involved in establishing country of origin meat brands. Professor Cunningham has led major research programmes in Ireland and at the UN in Rome, and has twice featured on the cover of Nature (one of the world's leading science publications).
Professor Cunningham has been invited to New Zealand by the National Research Centre for Growth and Development (NRCGD), one of the New Zealand Government's seven Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs).
"During his visit he will take up a position as part of an international scientific advisory board to the NRCGD," says director of the NRCGD Professor Phil Baker. "Our global advisory board is being formed from the best scientific, medical and agricultural minds in the world to review, guide and comment on the research work we're undertaking. New Zealand already has a considerable reputation in scientific research around pregnancy in humans and animals. We are putting in place this board to raise the research bar even higher for our skilled and capable scientists."
Professor Cunningham's lecture will compare New Zealand and Ireland as small economies, and look at the need for commitment to science as part of economic development. He will:
• outline the rationale and results of Irish initiatives in science over the past decade
• make comparison with other countries in the 27 nation European Union and with New Zealand
• address the priorities for investing in national science, in times of recession
After the lecture, Professor Cunningham will attend the annual symposium of the NRCGD (November 20-23) in Palmerston North.
