POST carries out horizon-scanning to anticipate issues of science and technology that are likely to impact on policy. At our quarterly Board meetings, POST advisers present a shortlist of topics for discussion.
The following projects have been approved by the Board, but work on them has not yet begun.
- Maximising the Value of Recycled Materials: this note will look at 'closed loop recycling' in which the quality of component materials is retained; the 'cradle to cradle' movement to integrate reuse and recyling into product design; and the potential for recovering greater amounts of rare and valuable metals from electronic products.
- Advanced Manufacturing: this note will look at developments in advanced manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing and initiatives to promte R&D in the UK.
- Managing Identity Online: this note will look at technical solutions to managing identity online, the implementation of single sign-on systems and the 'user-centric identity' movement which seeks to give people more control over their online identity.
- Intermittent Electricity Generation: this note will examine the current evidence base for the impact of intermittency in electricity systems such as wind, wave and solar power.
- Biodiversity in UK Overseas Territories: this note will look at the internationally signifcant biodiversity contained in UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies and the responsibility for its protection.
- Drug-resistant Tuberculosis: this note will look at the global threat of drug-resistant TB, examine surveillance systems in the UK and elsewhere, assess the risk of new strains emerging and the prospects of new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines being developed to control them.
- Mental Health and the Workplace: this note will describe trends in the prevalence of common mental health problems and their human and economic impacts. it will look at different approaches to managing mental problems in the workplace and supporting people affected by such conditions.
- Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Livestock: increasing awareness of livestock production as a source of GHGs has led to calls to reduce livestock numbers. However, there are a number of other genetic and nutritional options for reducing emissions from livestock. This POSTnote will outline these approaches and assess their likely contribution to reducing emissions.