A fresh approach to public sector leadership is vital if the Scottish Government's vision of a more successful country is to realised - especially given challenges such as the current financial situation and a general loss of trust in leaders - according to a new report from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

How individuals, communities and nation states form their ideas and beliefs about security and insecurity will form the basis for 14 new fellowships under the Research Council's Global Uncertainties programme.

The debate over how to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked to fight AIDS and other killer diseases in developing countries will come under the spotlight at a meeting of international experts today (April 6).

The most ambitious independent policy review in the UK for over a decade is published this week and makes challenging reading for both Government and Opposition.

The blame for the rise of an anti-political culture in Britain rests with politicians not voters, two leading experts will argue at a debate at the forthcoming Economic and Social Research Council's Festival of Social Science (6 - 15 March).

A group of leading UK scientists and social scientists led by the ESRC Genomics Forum, based at the University of Edinburgh, calls for joined-up thinking on the emerging politics of plants.