Science policy in Parliament: Voice of the Future 2024

As the national forum of debate and development of cutting-edge Earth science, The Geological Society has a special responsibility to communicate geoscience and its importance to the Government, the media, and the general public. As part of this commitment to support geoscientists, the profession and society, the Geological Society has been involved with Voice of the Future for several years.

Voice of the Future, organised by the Royal Society of Biology, allows early career scientists from a range of science and engineering organisations to question parliamentarians on the science and policy issues that matter to them. The event takes the form of a reversed select committee inquiry where the early career representative of the Geological Society questions Members of Parliament and Government Ministers on topics where geoscience intersects with society and raise the profile of geology and its role across modern public policy. This year, panelists included MPs Chi Onwurah, Katherine Fletcher, Stephen Metcalfe, and Carol Monaghan, followed by a session with Lord Drayson and Viscount Stansgate.

This year, the Society was represented by Tiffany Sarfo, a Physics graduate from the University of York. Tiffany was supported on the day by the Society’s policy team and Society Council member Hollie Fisher.

The first session saw Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Research & Innovation take to the stand.

Representatives from the various learned organisations took turns to ask questions on current subject issues relating to science and policy, covering broad topics on attracting international talent, retaining UK talent and addressing the UK’s STEM skills gap, communicating scientific research to enhance public trust and avoid misinformation, the application of AI within medical services, and the UK’s science education curriculum.

On behalf of the Society, Tiffany asked the following question:

“Longer duration storage can support a future energy system with high proportions of renewable energy by providing flexible energy supply and demand, and increasing the resilience of energy networks. Given the demand for geotechnical skills will increase in tandem with the development of subsurface energy storage systems, what be done to support education and training in geoscience to ensure the anticipated demand can be met by a resilient and skilled geoscience workforce?”

In response, Chi Onwurah MP stated that long duration storage technology in the UK has improved significantly. Chi highlighted the September 2022 Industrial Strategy, which described the key technologies involved in achieving Net Zero. Critically, the Industrial Strategy signals industrial priorities to the private sector and academic communities, which should give those communities the impetus to develop the skills required to meet the outlined goals.

The second session was led by Katherine Fletcher MP, Stephen Metcalfe MP, and Carol Monaghan MP, members of the House of Commons Science, Innovation & Technology Select Committee. This year, Tiffany was given the opportunity to put a second question to the panel, asking:

“Given the importance of critical and strategic materials to the UK economy as highlighted by the recent publication of the Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy (January 2024) what steps would you like to see the government taking to uphold the necessary environmental, social and governance performance of mining projects in the UK and overseas to ensure ethical, moral and sustainable practices are upheld across the sector?”

Carol Monaghan MP began by discussing the increased use and societal reliance on critical minerals and the challenge of critical mineral mining occurring primarily in places that are politically fragile.

Image 2: Katherine Fletcher, Stephen Metcalfe and Caroline Monaghan begin Session Two.

Katherine Fletcher MP joined in to discuss ethical challenges of international critical mineral mining for domestic use, noting the responsibility of UK trade to ensure that overseas operations consider factors beyond price and ease of access. Katherine also discussed the potential for critical mineral mining within the UK, raising the recent exploration for lithium in Cornwall as an opportunity for increasing the security of domestic supply.

Stephen Metcalfe MP reiterated the UK’s dependency on international imports of critical minerals and their products, and the challenges that arise from murky supply chains. Stephen then suggested that the UK has an opportunity to show leadership in establishing a global accreditation system for minerals and mining that could increase the transparency of supply chains globally and allow governments, and consumers, to choose an ethical and sustainable source.

Following on from the session, Tiffany reflected on Voice of the Future 2024 and why she attended…

“The energy transition needs science and innovation and I firmly believe that robust policy is equally crucial for achieving net-zero sustainably and ethically. Attending this event provided an excellent opportunity for me to gain a better understanding of geoscience-related policy.

The discussion with various MPs was incredibly insightful as it provided valuable insights into the ongoing efforts and potential policy avenues currently being explored by the government with regards to geoscience education as well as critical and strategic minerals. The third panel [Lord Drayson and Viscount Stansgate] emphasised the responsibility of scientists to make their work accessible and relevant to wider society regardless of political affiliations. This really highlighted the importance of science communication to me and how it can also play an important role in policy.

Thank you to the Geological Society of London for the privilege of representing the organisation in the House of Commons and to the Royal Society of Biology for organising the event.”

Image 3: The Geological Society’s early career representative, Tiffany Sarfo.

We are very grateful to Tiffany for her attendance at Voice of the Future 2024 and for her outstanding representation of The Geological Society.

By raising awareness of geoscience considerations in UK policymaking through our early career representatives, the Society is helping to ensure that young geoscientists can engage with policymakers about the topics that matter the most to them, whilst emphasising the role of geoscience in the UK’s future.

This supports the aims of the Society’s policy department, which works to communicate complex geoscience information as it relates to public policy, with the aim of fostering an understanding of geoscience factors in UK policymaking to advance science, the profession, and society.