In conversation with Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser

We were delighted to welcome the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, to speak at the Institute for Government. Appointed as the Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) in 2018, Sir Patrick has been responsible for providing advice on topics as varied as artificial intelligence, emerging pandemic diseases and climate change – and was a regular presence at No.10’s televised press conferences throughout the Covid crisis. With his five-year fixed-term ending in the spring, Patrick looked back at his time as Government Chief Scientific Adviser and ahead to some of the science-related challenges facing government. How can the government make best use of scientific evidence? What more can be done to place science at the heart of government decision making? The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, with an opening address from Patrick followed by a Q&A.