EPSRC takes small steps to win back trust

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has pledged to make the work of its strategic advisory panels more transparent, but has rejected a recommendation to publish online minutes of their meetings.

The EPSRC’s comments were published in an action plan in response to a review of the strategic advice it receives. The council had commissioned the review following heavy criticism from researchers about how it handled advice. Completed in July, the review recommended that appointments to, and the work of, the council’s Strategic Advisory Network and Strategic Advisory Teams should be made more transparent, and that minutes from their meetings should be published online.

However, the council has declined to publish such minutes, opting instead to put notes about the meetings online. The EPSRC’s chairman Paul Golby, who commissioned the review, says this decision is a result of consultations with members of the advisory network and advisory teams: “Their clear feedback was that if detailed, attributable minutes were published, that would inhibit their discussions.” He adds, however, that the published notes will “give a true and correct image of the discussion that took place”.