Overview
The US-UK Scientific Forum was established in 2008 to help the scientific leadership of the United Kingdom and the United States forge an enduring and productive partnership on pressing topics of worldwide scientific concern with benefit to all people. Forums take place annually on topics selected by the officers of the NAS and the Royal Society, alternating between venues in the U.S. and the U.K. Each Forum is attended by 50 to 60 researchers, about half from each country, in disciplines related to the topic area. A summary of the presentations and discussion at each Forum is available online.
Upcoming Forums
2025 US-UK Scientific Forum on Measuring Biodiversity
Assessing biodiversity is fundamental to understanding the distribution of biodiversity, the changes that are occurring and the responses to actions. Such assessments face multiple challenges, not least the great complexity of natural systems, but also a lack of standardized approaches to measurement, a plethora of measurement technologies with their own strengths and weaknesses, and different data needs depending on the purpose for which the information is being gathered. Other sectors have faced similar challenges and the Forum will look to learn from these precedents with a view to building momentum towards standardized methods for using particular environmental monitoring technologies for particular purposes. In so doing it will help ensure comparability between different research outputs and confidence that observed changes in biodiversity are the result of changes in what is being measured rather than the measurement methodology.
Recent Forums
2024 US-UK Scientific Forum on Science in the Age of AI
Rapid advancements in the field of AI pose both opportunities and challenges to scientific research. The Forum explored the emergence of AI in support of scientific research; applications of AI in different scientific fields; new paradigms of doing science enabled by AI; the intersection of AI with open science and the issues of reproducibility and replicability; and ethical issues related to the use of AI in science.
2023 US-UK Scientific Forum on Researcher Access to Data
The pandemic demonstrated that there is strong public benefit derived from researchers having prompt access to a variety of data sources, such as data from public and government bodies, as well as private companies (in particular, tech companies). There is also significant interest in how to connect and link the different data sources. The Forum addressed the evolution of researcher access to data; best practices and lessons learned from fields that are on the forefront of data sharing (i.e., climate studies, astrophysics, biomedicine); and challenges related to pressing societal problems such as online information (and misinformation), modeling for pandemics, and using data in emergencies.
2022 US-UK Scientific Forum on Bringing Nature into Decision Making
This Forum addressed the integration of biodiversity and nature’s benefits to people into decision-making, systemically and globally. The Forum focused on the grand challenge of valuing, sharing, and regenerating the benefits of nature; models of success today; barriers to adapting, replicating, and scaling these models in science, capacity, social innovation, and institutions; and key opportunities for lifting these barriers and transforming to nature-positive, climate-smart, and inclusive systems and pathways for sustainable development.
2021 US–UK Scientific Forum on Sustainable Energy
The presumption for the Forum is that the future electricity system will be supplied largely (>70%) by variable, renewable generation, which will require short, medium and long-term energy storage to ensure stability and continuation of electricity supply. The Forum considered the wider energy system only where this impacts energy storage in a future electricity system (e.g., EV to grid).
Event Disclaimer
It is essential to the National Academy of Sciences mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization.