Abstract

Issues in Research Funding Allocation Introduction by Patrick Sissons, Regius Professor of Physic

Keynote Address by Professor Martin Bobrow

A workshop in two parts, led by Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the Institute of Public Health, and Hughes Hall Centre for Biomedical Science in Society.

RSVP to Annica Curtis at ac804@cam.ac.uk

4 November, 2011, Hughes Hall University of Cambridge

5:00pm Tea and Coffee, 6:00-7:00om Seminar and replies, 7:00pm Drinks and conversation

Charities, governments and other funders of research must prioritize the areas in which they allocate research funding. An old but unresolved issue, is the weight that should be given to questions that the general public feel need urgent answers. Other groups remind us of the unsolved pressing issues of the developing world and the responsibility we have developing preventive measures and treatments for tropical and orphan diseases.

This keynote lecture, delivered by Professor Martin Bobrow, will introduce us to some considerations relating to science funding in this.

Should global disease priorities, achievability of research goals or research quality be guiding funding allocation?

As a society, do we need ethical guidelines that would drive future research agendas?

Are these guidelines more urgently needed in recession times?

Martin Bobrow studied medicine in South Africa. He worked in Edinburgh and Oxford, before becoming Professor of Medical Genetics in Amsterdam, London and then Cambridge in 1995. He retired from this post in 2005. He has been Deputy Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, Chairman of ULTRA (Unrelated Living Transplant Regulating Authority), Chairman of COMARE (Department of Health Advisory Committee on radiation in the Environment), Deputy Chairman of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and a member of the Medical Research Council and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission.

Please, RSVP to Annica Curtis ac804@cam.ac.uk indicating ‘CBSS seminar 4th November’ in your reply.