The UK's 'strong voice for science' needs to speak up about Europe

Sir Mark Walport's vision for the UK's new super-research council has a Europe-shaped hole. He needs to fill it

Last Tuesday morning, the most powerful scientist in the UK set out his vision for the future of research and innovation in this country. In a plush Westminster conference room Sir Mark Walport, chief executive designate of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the new super-research council that will soon oversee all publicly-funded research and development in Britain, spoke at length about the guiding principles of his new organisation (video and slides available here). He linked fundamental research across all disciplines - the sciences and the humanities - to the industrial strategy with which this present government aims to tackle the societal and economic imperatives facing Britain in the 21st century.

Walport's vision was boldly global in its reach, recognising not only the importance of international collaboration in research, but also the worldwide nature of many of the challenges ahead, from energy and food supply, to environmental protection and the societal impact of artificial intelligence.