Today (27 May 2022), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care, Lord Kamall, and the Swedish Minister for Education, Anna Ekström, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing the UK and Sweden to ongoing co-operation in the life sciences.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the Swedish Ambassador’s Residence in London, in the presence of King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia. Minister for Science and Innovation, George Freeman, was also present.

The MoU follows a long tradition of Swedish and UK co-operation, including the pioneering work achieved by the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca in developing the coronavirus vaccine, and will see the 2 nations promoting joint progress across policy development, technical standards, industry collaboration, research, and the development and implementation of new technologies and treatments.

Both the UK and Sweden are world-leaders in the life sciences, and the Memorandum of Understanding commits our 2 nations to enhancing co-operation between our governments and to galvanise our life sciences ecosystems in working together on our shared strengths and common priorities, covering fields from precision medicine, clinical trials, pandemic preparedness and antimicrobial resistance to sustainability, trade, and investment for the sector.

The UK and Sweden are responsible international actors, leading the way in tackling global challenges, and this Memorandum of Understanding will pave the way for stronger business development and enhanced collaborative opportunities, while delivering on both the Life Sciences Vision, and the Integrated Review.

The fourth annual Geography in Government Awards took place on Wednesday 25th May 2022 at Geovation in London. It celebrates the work done by members of the geography profession across the public sector. The awards were presented by Nigel Clifford Deputy Chair of the Geospatial Commission.

This year had a record number of nominations across the 6 categories, the winners of those categories were;

Advancing geospatial data science

The Geography Data Products and Operations Team at Office for National Statistics for automation of the updates to the Statistical Geographies for the 2021 Census.

Advancing geospatial data science

Contribution to policy development (joint winners)

The Digital & Research team at Greater Manchester Combined Authority for developing the Digital Exclusion Risk Index by Digital inclusion.

Contribution to policy development1

The Systems Innovation and Futures, and Land Use Policy teams at Defra for modelling the geography of land use change by Spatial Data Science.

Contribution to policy development

Excellence in Geo-visualisation

Green Infrastructure Standards Mapping team at Natural England, Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) for their Green Infrastructure Mapping Database (Beta Version 1.1).

Excellence in Geo-visualisation

Excellence in Local and Regional Public Sector

Strategy and Intelligence Team at Westminster City Council (WCC) for Know Your Audience: Segmenting Westminster’s Communities.

Excellence in Local and Regional Public Sector

Operational Delivery

Mapping Domain at Registers of Scotland for using mapping data to transform Scotland’s Land Register.

Operational delivery

Making a difference in Geography (joint award)

Contribution to Women+ in Geospatial Network by GGP members of the Women+ in Geospatial leadership team

Making a Difference in Geography

Alistair Calder – Office for National Statistics

Making a Difference in Geography2

The overall winners were presented their award at the prestigious RGS (with IBG) medals and awards ceremony in June.

David Wood, Head of Government Geography Profession said ‘every year the members of the Government Geography Profession demonstrate their expertise and professionalism, showing how geographers are crucial to policy decisions and local delivery. These awards showcase this impact and always makes judging very competitive.’

If you are a geographer working in government you are able to access a range of support from webinars to job opportunities via its member site or by visiting the Government Geography Profession organisation page.

• Resolution will help developing countries to run their own drug and vaccine trials
• UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid calls agreement a ‘landmark moment’ in world’s journey to pandemic preparedness

Millions of people across the world will be better protected from future pandemics thanks to a landmark resolution brought by the UK and Argentina at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva today (Friday 27 May).

By encouraging more specific funding, the resolution will help developing countries increase their capacity to run their own clinical trials – helping them to test new drugs, vaccines and other health interventions which will benefit their populations – while working across countries to respond to future pandemics more rapidly.

As well as helping countries to respond faster in a public health emergency, the resolution will also help countries tackle existing health challenges such as tuberculosis, diabetes, and mental health problems.

There will also be closer collaboration between researchers on clinical trials across the world – reducing research waste – while increased transparency will mean the results of trials will be more readily shared between countries.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said:

We saw from Covid how important it is for countries to share information quickly and this resolution represents another landmark moment in the world’s journey to pandemic preparedness.

Clinical trials are vital for testing and producing lifesaving drugs and vaccines, and this resolution led by the UK and Argentina will make it much easier for developing countries to run their own trials – protecting them and others from another pandemic.

The resolution aims to strengthen clinical trials of all health interventions, not just drugs and vaccines. For example, trials for new diagnostics, surgical procedures, or behavioural interventions. It will also help to achieve the goal of developing new diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines within 100 days of a new pandemic threat being identified.

The resolution urges research funders to invest in developing countries and deliver trials to tackle health problems which disproportionately affect their populations. It also commits countries to increased international co-ordination to rapidly evaluate drugs and vaccines in any future pandemic.

The UK’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care used his speech on Monday to call for Taiwan to be given observer status at the WHA which would give them access to the relevant technical meetings that would help them prepare for another pandemic.

The resolution is the latest UK led endeavour to prepare the world for another pandemic, and follows the signing of the Pact for Pandemic Preparedness at the end of the G7 health ministers meeting in Berlin last week which will see G7 countries share their Covid inspired initiatives, including those on detection and surveillance.

1. The full resolution is available here: Strengthening clinical trials to provide high-quality evidence on health interventions and to improve research quality and coordination (who.int)