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.
- Telehealth and telecare: this POSTnote will discuss current uptake of telehealth and telecare in the UK, and explore the barriers to its widespread uptake, as well as looking at cutting-edge research. Issues include the lack of interconnectivity of devices, attitudes and awareness of health and social care professionals, and a limited evidence base on cost effectiveness.
- Phosphate resources: this POSTnote will summarise the strategic importance of phosphate and the technologies and policies for reducing dependency on mineral reserves, improving food security and delivering environmental benefits.
- Energy storage: this POSTnote will update POSTnote 306 of April 2008, which focused on electricity storage, expanding its scope to take account of heat storage options.
- Unmanned aerial vehicles: this POSTnote will provide an overview of the range of current and future applications of commercial drones, covering both small drones and larger aircraft. It would look at the potential benefits to the UK and would consider issues that need to be addressed such as how to avoid collisions, privacy concerns and insurance.
- Climate Feedbacks: this POSTnote will summarise the current available evidence on the likely impact of feedbacks, areas where further research is required to support climate models and the implications for climate change policy
- Short Lived Climate Pollutants: this POSTnote will describe the different shorter-lived climate pollutants and their effects on the climate system and current policy initiatives to mitigate emissions of these substances.
- Transparency of Clinical Data: this POSTnote will look at proposals for regulation to increase the transparency of data collected in clinical trials.
- Special Educational Needs: this POSTnote will describe the neurodevelopmental aspects of special educational needs and give an overview of how educational practice can take account of the latest research.
- Surveillance of Infectious Disease: this POSTnote will examine new sequencing technologies for surveillance of infectious disease and use case studies to show how they have been applied.