Science policy – my favourite sites

In a comment on a recent post, Jamie Christie asked me to list my top ten sites on research policy. I thought this would be a difficult task; the best sites will vary depending on your particular interests, and some sites are important but not frequently updated. But as I looked through my list I could easily spot which sites I tend to rely on.

Nature news and comment – they used to have a number of separate newsfeeds and blogs but I think this is their main site.
Science News – it includes content from both Science Now and Science Insider.
Times Higher – it is mainly weekly, but does have more frequent updates to the breaking news section. Good for general academic issues.
Royal Society and their policy blog In verba RCUK (plus individual RCs pages, depending on your interests).
Cordis – I thought the EU should be in there, but actually the sites I look at rarely have much of interest so I feel bad about including any of them. This is probably the least bad.
Science Business – a very good site on science in industry and science funding.
Research Blogs (was called Exquisite Life) – always incisive commentary.
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – while this is not very focused on science, when it does have something on science it will be important.
CaSE – very often has something of interest, and usually has a response to any major announcement.
Wellcome Trust – mostly biomedical, but also has good material on broader research governance issues and public engagement.
BBC science – news more than policy, but it’s a good catch-all.
Guardian Science– again mostly news, but some of the comment is free pieces are good.

Another site cropped up this week that might be worth watching: Purse String Theory. It aims to cover science policy and funding.

Of course I could just have said “Twitter” – that’s the only site you need. There is something to be said for that point of view. There are a number of Twitter lists for science policy. Here are some that look useful.