Quantitative methods programme welcomed by Minister of State for Universities and Science

Minister of State for Universities and Science David Willetts MP has welcomed the Nuffield Foundation’s new initiative to promote a step-change in the quantitative skills of undergraduates. Commenting on the programme he said:

Independent assessment of public sector pension reform

The Government’s proposed reforms to the NHS, Teachers, Local Government and Civil Service pension schemes will reduce the average value of the pension benefit for members of these schemes by more than a third. However, even after the Government’s proposed reforms, public sector pensions will still be more valuable than most private sector pensions. 

£15.5 million for quantitative methods training for social science undergraduates

The Nuffield Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have launched a major new £15.5 million programme designed to promote a step-change in quantitative methods training for social science undergraduates in the UK.

New assessment framework could stop primary school science falling behind English and maths

Science education in primary schools is at risk of being given less teaching time than the other core subjects of maths and English. This is due to the lack of a comprehensive system of assessment to track performance at pupil, school and national level, according to a working group of specialists in primary science education.

Box Office Bioethics

Calling all young film-makers!

Box Office Bioethics is the Nuffield Council on Bioethics' film competition.

Better information, advice and support needed for those making decisions on behalf of people with dementia

People appointed as guardians and attorneys for loved ones with dementia are not given sufficient information, advice and support, according to new research from Alzheimer Scotland and funded by the Foundation.

Text messaging does not damage children’s written or spoken grammar

Using ‘text speak’ does not damage children’s understanding of written or spoken grammar, according to Nuffield-funded research presented to the British Psychological Society’s Developmental Section Conference today.

British Society for Rheumatology award for former Oliver Bird student

Congratulations to Dr Amy Naylor, who was the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the British Society for Rheumatology in May.

BBC's Growing Children talks to Nuffield grant-holders about dyslexia

Two Nuffield Foundation grant-holders are featured in a BBC documentary about dyslexia. Professor Clare Wood and  Professor Usha Goswami are interviewed in Growing Children, in which psychologist Laverne Antrobus explores how growing children are affected by dyslexia through the eyes of children and families affected by it.

In memory of Sir Bernard Lovell

The Foundation reflects on the life and work of Sir Bernard Lovell, the astronomer and physicist who died earlier this month aged 98.

Sir Bernard was the founder of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, home to the third largest steerable telescope in the world (the largest at the time of its completion in 1957). The development of the observatory remains a seminal project, not only in the history of the Nuffield Foundation, but in the history of British post-war scientific and industrial development generally.