3rd December 2024
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
25th November 2024
The climate crisis and gender-based violence
8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
12th October 2012 New Delhi, India
Spotlight on Events
The Science and Innovation Network (SIN) in India have been very busy recently with a host of events involving topics ranging from creative economies to frugal innovation. Mark Sinclair, head of the SIN India team, was in the UK at the launch of ‘Our Frugal Future’; a report that explores the policies, institutions and industries […]
11th October 2012 Toronto, Canada
A preview of CSPC 2012
The 4th Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC), subtitled Building Bridges for the Future of Science Policy, will take place in Calgary between 5 and 7 November 2012. We have excellent UK representation this year, with speakers in two panels and SIN Officers in attendance: The Fundamental Research as a Driver for Long-Term Canadian Innovation panel […]
11th October 2012
The UK, the EU and 2013
A guest blog by Louise Taylor, EU Political Officer, British Embassy Ankara, Turkey. The tragic deaths of a mother and her children in the town of Akçakale last week has highlighted the extent to which Turkey is at the top of many important areas of the international agenda. This week all eyes are on Brussels […]
10th October 2012 Beirut, Lebanon
Five Questions
Eisenhower said that if you can’t fix a problem, you should make it bigger. Lebanon is trying to fix a big problem – preventing the violence from Syria tipping it into instability. So far, it is doing well, and as I’ve argued, should not be fatalist about external factors (mindsoupblog). But for a country that […]
10th October 2012
No to Capital Punishment
Today is both World and European Day against the Death Penalty. As British Ambassador to Ethiopia, I am responsible for lobbying the Ethiopian government on issues that are important to the United Kingdom. And in partnership with other European Union (EU) Ambassadors, I will be calling on the Ethiopian government to abolish the death penalty. […]
9th October 2012 Toronto, Canada
Collaboration Development Awards 2012
Back in July, we announced our first ever Collaboration Development Award(CDA) programme. The CDAs are small mobility grants for researchers to travel between Canada and the UK and set out plans for longer-term collaborations in areas of strategic importance to SIN. The quality of applications was very high, with many proposals strong enough to qualify […]
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9th October 2012 Ottawa, Canada
The CSeries and UK-Canada Collaboration
Recently I spent a couple of days in Montreal, one of my favourite places in Canada. A great time to visit and discuss the outcome of the recent Quebec elections, the ongoing corruption investigation, as well as take the temperature of the business community on the economy, and on CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade […]
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9th October 2012 Dublin, Ireland
Railway cooperation? All on the right track!
I am just back from London,where I hosted a Poland/Romania/UK rail for growth event. Both the Polish and Romanian delegations were led by Ministers and included government representatives and rail industry experts. Both countries saw similar key challenges and opportunities in areas like safety, project management and funding future investment, for example the use of […]
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9th October 2012 Bucharest, Romania
Great Britons in Romania
Today I would like to present the story of yet another great Briton in Romania, as told by Peter Thomas, Head of Political Team in the British Embassy in Bucharest: Fifth in our series of Great Britons in Romania is Sally Wood-Lamont, President of the Romanian National Paralympics Committee and founder of the Lamont Centre, a […]
9th October 2012
Greening Ethiopia
Ethiopia is already one of the greenest countries in the world (though that may surprise many). And with its ambitious but far from incredible plans to become a middle income country with zero net carbon growth by 2025, through implementation of its new Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy, it should continue on this path. The […]