GLASGOW University Physicist Professor Sheila Rowan has been named as the Scottish Government’s new Chief Scientific Adviser.
The appointment of the gravitational wave expert comes 18 months since Prof Muffy Calder, the last holder of that position stood down.
The Tories suggested the Scottish Government should go back and look again at some of the decisions made by Ministers without a scientific adviser, including around genetically modified crops.
Announced at Glasgow University yesterday morning, Prof Rowan said she was “looking forward to working with ministers and officials to show the added value that science advice can bring to their work.”
She continued: “I’m also keen to meet scientists across Scotland so that I can fully appreciate the potential impact of new developments in science, engineering and technology.”
She will remain at Glasgow University’s Institute for Gravitational Research, where she is director, and, effectively, work on secondment for the government three days a week.
Anton Muscatelli, the principal of the University of Glasgow, said she was an “outstanding scientist” and a “brilliant communicator and superb role model”.
Earlier this year, Prof Rowan was involved in one of the most significant scientific discoveries of this century, when she and others in an international team confirmed the existence of gravitational waves.
Last year the Scottish Government were heavily criticised by the previous holders of the Chief Scientific Adviser role after ministers banned the growing of GM crops in Scotland.
Dame Anne Glover said she was perplexed by the government’s decision, saying it was clearly “not based on scientific evidence”. Prof Calder said it was “fear of the unknown, based on some unscrupulous articles in the very early days about potential health risks which have really not been well founded and there has been no evidence ever since”.
The then Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead, said the Government were worried GM crops would “damage our clean and green brand, thereby gambling with the future of our £14 billion food and drink sector”.
Scottish Conservative science spokesman Ross Thomson said now was the time to revisit that decision: “With the banning of GM crops the SNP didn’t even bother to seek scientific advice even although it has the potential to provide an exciting future for both science and agriculture.
“They are effectively slamming the door on potential scientific advances that could revolutionise the industry. They are putting ideology before opportunity.”
One of the first big challenges for the new scientific adviser will be around fracking.
The Scottish Government have a moratorium on fracking and underground coal gasification until a number of reports commissioned last year are finished. Their own independent Expert Scientific Panel published a report in July 2014 saying that more evidence is needed into the effects of unconventional extraction oil and gas.
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