Chris McDonald

I'm Rosalind Skillen and I'll be your host for this week's episode.

Speaking at the university's UK conference last week in Nottingham, UK Science Minister Chris McDonald told a roomful of vice-chancellors that he will be making the case for science unrelentingly.

His remarks were met with mixed feelings, odd, concerning.

and alarming were just some of the reactions among the UK research community because McDonald has responsibility for the country's entire research and development system including social sciences and the arts and the humanities.

McDonald took up the role as Minister for Science in July, entering a newly created Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, replacing a disbanded DSIT, otherwise known as the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The new department positions science much more explicitly beside business and economic growth, which has raised immediate questions about how scientific research will fit into the Burnham government's business agenda.

Chris McDonald is also an unusual science minister compared to what came before.

His predecessor, Lord Patrick Vallance, spent nearly a decade in government, first as Chief Scientific Advisor, then a science minister and has been a lifelong advocate for UK science policy.