Professor Marian Scott heads to Westminster

Brexit: an academic conference

On 10th November, Professor Marian Scott attended an academic event at Westminster "Brexit: an academic conference". Marian said:

“The conference brought together parliamentary researchers from both Houses and academics to consider some of the key policy areas affected by the UK’s decision to leave the EU. This gave an opportunity to discuss the effect of Brexit on different policy areas and help researchers and academics share expertise and ideas.

I was part of the RCUK exhibition, and had prepared a short presentation on some of the key environmental topics that we here in Glasgow are involved in, including air and water quality and the water-energy-food nexus. Our environmental regulations come from Europe, and the big question how will this change in the future, will we still adhere to the standards and limits for NO2, or comply with the water framework directive?

There were approximately 110 parliamentary researchers, including Westminster staff based in the Libraries and Select Committees in both Houses, and staff from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) who attended, so the event was very busy with a lot of discussion (although some of it quite short).

What did I learn? The main message I took away was that there is considerable amount of research being done in Westminster linked to questions from parliamentarians and the staff can find it a challenge to keep abreast of the activities across the UK, but that as an academic we can help with that. A secondary message for me was that when communicating our findings, we need to be brief and to the point. Busy people need the headlines. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I would recommend taking opportunities like this as they come up.”