David Cope
David Cope (born 7 July 1946) was director of the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (April 1998 – March 2012).
Prior to taking up the post in Parliament Cope was director of the UK centre for economic and environmental development and visiting professor at the University of Kyoto.[1]
Activities and views
Climate
Cope took part in a debate about climate in Beeston, near Nottingham on 22 June 2007 following a screening of Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth. According to the account of Conservative MEP and 'token skeptic' Roger Helmer:
- Also on the panel was Professor David Cope, who works as a parliamentary adviser on scientific issues. I was delighted and surprised that he was scrupulously fair and impartial. I had feared he would be a fully-paid-up member of the alarmist tendency.
- He said one thing that I found particularly interesting. He feared in the current panic over climate change, we might rush in to policy responses that with hindsight would be less than ideal, but might prove difficult to change.
- He felt we could all benefit from a five-year pause to review the science, and also evaluated possible policy responses to see which offered the best value for money. That seems to me a good idea.[2]
Nuclear
In April 2013 Cope was one of a number of signatories to a letter in the Sunday Telegraph arguing that 'Nuclear energy brings significant public health and environmental benefits'. It argued that 'building a fleet of new nuclear power stations rather than one reactor at a time will lead to considerable economies of scale and lower costs for consumers. It will also provide the reliable, secure, low-carbon energy urgently needed in this country. However, we are becoming increasingly concerned at the apparent slow progress of negotiations between the Government and EDF Energy for Hinkley Point C, and we fear this aspiration could be undermined if a deal on the pioneer project is not resolved satisfactorily.'[3] Cope was listed as 'University of Cambridge' and his name appeared along side prominent scientific advocates of nuclear power including David King the former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government, Sue Ion Independent Consultant, Dr Malcolm Grimston Honorary Senior Research Fellow, ICEPT Imperial College, Professor Simon Biggs FREng Professor of Particle Science & Engineering University of Leeds, Professor Jon Billowes, Professor of Nuclear Physics The University of Manchester, Professor Colin Boxall The Lloyd's Register Foundation Chair in Nuclear Engineering and Decommissioning Lancaster University.
Career
- Visiting Professor Institute for Technology, Enterprise and Competitiveness, Doshisha University July 2012 – Present (1 year 2 months) Kyoto, Japan
- Director Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology April 1998 – March 2012 (14 years)[4]
Affiliations
- Science Media Centre, member of Board 2002-2003.
- Life Member, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
Contact
- LinkedIn: David Cope
Notes
- ↑ Lynne Williams 'Appointments; Noticeboard' The Times Higher Education Supplement April 17, 1998: Issue 1328, Pg.31
- ↑ Roger Helmer 'My fair hearing' Nottingham Evening Post, June 29, 2007 Friday: Pg. 14
- ↑ Sir David King et al The Government should not delay on its nuclear power plans; Negotiations over Hinkley Point C are going too slowly telegraph.co.uk April 21, 2013 Sunday 6:59 AM GMT
- ↑ LinkedIn David Cope, accessed 14 August 2013.
