Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

26th May 2015 New Delhi, India

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by Karanpreet

Science and Innovation Adviser

Newton Bhabha Innovation Workshop: Industry Academia Engagement

On 12-13 May 2015, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), in partnership with the Science and Innovation Network (SIN) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) organised a workshop in New Delhi on ‘industry academia engagement’. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the current challenges of technological development in India, […]

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25th May 2015 Toronto, Canada

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by John Preece

The Science and Technology Committee visits Toronto

Guest blogger Dr. Elizabeth Rough, Committee Specialist on the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, spent a month getting rained on in Toronto – all in the name of science. For a month in Spring, the Toronto Office of SIN Canada became my adopted home. Normally you can find me in Westminster working as a Committee Specialist […]

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25th May 2015 Istanbul, Turkey

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by Gareth Bayley

UK Special Representative for Syria

Remembering Houla – why sectarianism cannot be part of Syria’s future

Three years ago today, a massacre took place in the Syrian village of Taldou in Houla, in northern Syria. According to the UN, 108 civilians were brutally murdered, including 34 women and 49 children. More even than the death toll, the clear sectarian nature of the killings sparked an international outcry. The UN and twelve other […]

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25th May 2015 Mumbai, India

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by Vijay Iyer

Senior Science & Innovation Adviser

Celebrating World Intellectual Property Day in Chennai

On 25 April, I was in Chennai to speak at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on ‘Leveraging intellectual property rights for a creative and innovative India’. Two reasons made the event momentous. One, celebration of the World Intellectual Property (IP) Day (26 April) and two, launch of a report mapping […]

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22nd May 2015 Brasilia, Brazil

by Thais Nogueira

Political Assistant

Seahorses: ‘flagships’ for biodiversity conversation – Guestpost by Dr Lucy Woodall

22 May marks the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB), a day to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. The theme for 2015 will be ‘Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’ to reflect the importance of a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being developed as part of the UN post-2015 development agenda and the relevance […]

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22nd May 2015 Mumbai, India

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by Vijay Iyer

Senior Science & Innovation Adviser

IP – savvy future judges

Imagine speaking to an audience of state level judges-in-training on intellectual property (IP)! Well, I had the honour of doing so at the Odisha Judicial Academy in Cuttack, Odisha on 11 April 2015. At the academy, newly recruited state judicial officers learn about, inter alia, the different areas of law, judicial attitude, aptitude orientation and […]

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22nd May 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan

by George Edgar

World Biodiversity Day

Over the last two years we have been keen buyers of local honey in Tashkent. One recent weekend we went to see where it comes from, and drove out of Tashkent to a meadow close to the hills behind Parkent. The beekeeper showed us the stack of hives stacked up on a large trailer, and […]

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21st May 2015 Toronto, Canada

by Fern Horine

Deputy British Consul General to Toronto and Director Trade for UKTI Canada

Did you see The Imitation Game?

If you didn’t, I’d thoroughly recommend it. It’s a dramatisation of Alan Turing and others’ work, capturing the herculean task that the code breakers of Bletchley Park undertook to help our war effort. Historians estimate that the code breakers shortened the war by two years and saved thousands of lives…

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