Senedd Cymru / Welsh Parliament
Cross-Party Group on STEMM
Meeting at 18:30, Tues 12 March, via Teams
Minutes
Attendees: David Rees MS (Chair), Mark Isherwood MS (Vice-Chair), Niall Sommerville (Secretariat), Dr Geertje van Keulen, Prof. Jas Pal Badyal, Mike Charlton, Faron Moller, Wendy Sadler, Cerian Angharad, George Baldwin, Keith Jones, Leigh Jeffes, Benjamin Lloyd, Mike Edmunds, Stefan James, Phil Newton, Dave Harwood, Emma Yhnell, Tom Addison, Paul Bulmer, Mabrouka Abuhmida
1) Welcome
Chair David Rees MS welcomed members to the meeting including today’s two guest speakers, Prof. Phil Newton and Dr Mabrouka Abuhmida. It was noted that as business was ongoing in the Senedd the agenda would be moved around so that Mark Isherwood MS would be able to join for the guest speakers following the days voting.
2) Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Jack Sargeant MS, Helen Taylor, Lewis Dean, Rhobert Lewis, Megan O’Donnell.
3) Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising
Minutes and matter arising were noted and final minutes will be submitted to the Senedd for publication on the webpage.
4) Update from Welsh Government Office for Science
An update on the work of the Welsh Government Office for Science was provided, by Dr Robert Hoyle, this included information on clusters and Project ARTHUR
5) Updates from professional bodies and learned societies
Colleagues provided short oral updates about relevant work of the organisations and were invited to submit their written updates to Niall Sommerville for circulation following the meeting.
Leigh Jeffes noted that the annual Science and the Senedd event will take place on Tues 21 May and will focus on the Green Economy. Colleagues were invited to share speaker ideas with Leigh. Bookings for attendees will open after Easter.
Professor Mike Edmunds, president of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) spoke about the recently signed Burlington House Agreement that secures the future of the RAS and other Learned Societies including the RSC at their Burlington House HQs as part of a 999 year leasehold with the Government.
6) Topics for future meetings
A range of topics were suggested including revisiting the Curriculum for Wales discussions, potentially with a new Minister in post; Looking at Hydrogen energy and the hydrogen economy post Science and the Senedd; and Space Wales/the Welsh Govt Space Strategy. Members agreed these would be useful topics to explore.
7) Guest Speakers:
The group welcomed two guest speakers for today’s session focused on the topic of AI:
- Prof. Phil Newton, Swansea University – “AI in STEM Higher Education. Challenges, Opportunities and Evidence”
- Dr Mabrouka Abuhmida, University of South Wales – “Demystifying AI in Wales: Shaping the Future of Society and Industry”
The talks included information on the bias within AI; ethical challenges of AI in education; opportunities in learning; opportunities for industry in Wales to capitalize on AI; the need to upskill employees in AI; issues faced by legislatures, including in Wales, on managing the pros and cons of AI; and embedding AI knowledge and understanding within the education system.
Following the presentations, the speakers took questions from the floor.
8) AOB
The group agreed to send their congratulations to Prof. Tom Crick who was recently appointed the Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The group agreed to write to Prof. Crick and look to invite him to a future meeting.
It was noted that this was the final CPG for Prof. Mike Edmunds, RSA, and Prof. Mike Charlton, LSW, who are both stepping down from their current roles. The Chair and members put on record their thanks to both colleagues for their work and support for the CPG over the years.